A New Chapter
by MilesPrower2011
Summary: Casie is a young girl trying to find her way around the infected United States in hopes she can find someone like her and looking for someone where she can belong in this world – M to be safe, OC only - might change
1. The Beginning

**This is my story about a young girl in 'The Last of Us' world. I only owe Casie, whose BIO you can see below, Mason and Tyler…please no hate/flames or abuse of any kind.**

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**Casie is a 19 year old girl who has lost everything, including her family which she has no memory of. Casie is immune, finding out after she was attacked by a Stalker and getting bitten on left side of her neck when she was 13. Over the years, she has gotten more bit marks, left arm when she was 14, left hand, between thumb and index finger when she was 15, right arm when she was 16 and her left ankle when she was 18.**

**Casie short sandy blond hair that is always pulled up into a ponytail, blue eyes, fair skin and an hour-glass figure. She wear a long sleeve white skivvy, a plain grey shirt, a black scarf wrapped around her neck and as a hoodie, a large black backpack which has little bit of food, 2 bottle of water, bandages, ammo and arrows which stick out, lose jeans, a brown belt, white joggers and black fingerless gloves. Casie always carries a pocket knife in jean pocket, a hunting knife in her belt, a bow over her bag, a rifle over her right shoulder and a hand gun that's in the back of her pants.**

**Casie is a quiet girl that keeps to herself though she loves helping people in need. Most of the time she avoids people and learnt to pick out bandits. She lives being alone though sometimes she does enjoy the company. She lived in a military controlled zone till she was first bit when she was 13. She ran off and waited to turn but when nothing happened, she started traveling. She met with others who had help her out. She keeps her bit mark hidden so no one kills her. She saved a few groups and has gotten more bite marks. Most time she runs away from the group but a few times she tells them her story. She travels in she can find someone else like her and to find hope.**

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Casie wakes up to a loud noise which cause her to jump. Casie quickly got up, grabbing her gun and scans the room she is in. It was small, she was standing next to a double bed that has two bedside table next to it and a dressers draws at the foot. After staring at the door, Casie sighs as she grabs her gear and headed out into the dead city that was once known as Nashville, Tennessee. She was alone. She just left a group after they went north, in hope to find someplace safe. Casie made a lie up and headed west. That was a week ago. The fact is, Casie can't stand being in a group, not while she has so many marks to cover. If she had one or two, then she would think about it more but she has five marks to hide. Casie sighs as she looks at the morning sky.

'I better get moving if I want to make it to the next town.' Casie thinks to herself as she heads off to find the freeway or a highway out of town. She was on high alert for an infected or any bandits. Joys of traveling alone. You have no one to watch your back. She kept heading west, she doesn't know why, but she keeps going. Though every day she question on why she keeps going. What is the point? 'No.' Casie thought as she stops and places her hand on her forehead. 'I can't think like that, I need to keep going.' Casie then tells herself as she starts walking again. Casie then stops after hearing voices and pulls out her handgun and looks around. Then a boy, a teenager ran out of an alley with a frustrated look. He has short black hair, brown eyes, and fair skin. He is wearing a white shirt, a navy blue jacket, a black and blue backpack, jeans, a brown belt and black joggers. Casie then notices he is holding a handgun, so she points hers at him. The boy notices her and goes into shock.

"Mason!" he shouts and an older boy runs out. He has short, light brown, brown eyes and fair skin. He is red blouse, a brown backpack, jeans, a brown belt, brown boots. He was also holding a handgun, pointing at her, but Casie also saw a rifle over his shoulder and a hunting knife in his belt.

'I guess that's Mason.' Casie assumes as she points the gun at him.

"Stay behind me Tyler." Mason tells the younger kid.

'Are they brothers?' Casie thought and sighs as she shacks her head as she puts her gun away, taking a few steps back and pulls down her hoodie.

"Wait, you're a girl." Mason said shock and Casie sighs.

"She's friendly." Tyler said as he push down Mason's gun. "And alone." he then said looking around.

"Are you alone?" Mason asks.

"Yes." Casie replies as she pulls her hoodie back up.

"I'm Tyler and this is my brother, Mason." Tyler introduces and Casie smiles.

"Tyler." Mason warns him.

"I don't bite." Casie said as she cross her arms and Mason puts his gun away.

"Where are you heading?" Mason asks as he walks up to Casie with Tyler.

"West, at the moment." Casie replies. "And you?" Casie asks a little curious on where these brothers were heading.

"We're heading to Jackson County in Wyoming. We heard there was someplace safe and not in military control." Tyler explains.

"A sanctuary." Mason adds and Casie sighs. "You can join us." Mason offers and Casie sighs.

"I don't know." Casie said as she looks around.

"Come on." Mason said and Casie sighs.

'It's a plan at least and if things go wrong, I can go my own way.' Casie thought and looks at Mason. "Okay then, lead the way." Casie tells him and Mason chuckles.

"Great." Mason said and the trio heads off.

"Where is your last group?" Tyler asks.

"They headed north and I came here." Casie tells him. "That was a week ago, I think."

"Tyler." Mason said.

"Right, sorry." Tyler said and Casie sighs as she made sure her sleeves were down and her gloves weren't coming off. She couldn't afford for them to see a bite mark.

"Are you okay?" Mason asks a little worry.

"I'm fine." Casie replies.

"Just making sure." Mason said. "So this is the plan, if this is okay with you. We head to St. Louis in Missouri. From there we go west, through Kansas and Colorado, then get to Wyoming which is north from Colorado." Mason explains.

"You seem to know your way around." Casie said.

"I had an atlas, I figured everything out and wrote them down." Mason tells her.

"Smart." Casie whispers and sighs.

"What was your plan?" Mason asks.

"Just west." Casie replies. "There was no plan." Casie then admits softly.

"Let's hope we don't run into any infected." Tyler said.

"The infected isn't that big of a deal, it's the normal people you have to worry about. Bandits." Casie tells him.

"Yeah, she's right Tyler. You saw what happen to the group." Mason said.

"That was scary." Tyler whispers. "Why do people do that?" Tyler asks and Casie shakes her head.

"Survival, they don't care who they hurt." Casie replies.

"We just have to look out for each other." Mason tells them and Casie stops, looking back.

"What is it?" Mason asks as he stops and grabs Tyler to make him stop.

"I heard moaning." Casie replies, walking up to them. "Let's keep moving." Casie tells them

"Let's." Tyler said and they head off.

"So, where were you when this hit?" Mason asks.

"New York, they built a quarantine zone and I was there till I was 13." Casie replies.

"Why did you leave?" Mason asks and Casie sighs. "Sorry, that was too personal." Mason quickly said.

"It was." Casie whispers.

"Come on." Tyler said and Casie sighs.

"Maybe when we got to know each other more, you let us know." Mason said.

"Maybe." Casie whispers. The trio walked for hours, Mason took point with Tyler behind him and Casie walking at the back

"How long do you think it will take to get to St. Louis?" Tyler asks.

"A couple of days." Mason replies and Casie sighs as she shacks her head. It is going to be a long day. "How are you holding up back there?" Mason asks.

"Let's just get out of here." Casie replies.

"Can we find a car?" Tyler asks.

"There is no way in hell that there could be a working car, lying around." Mason tells him.

"Do you hear that?" Tyler asks as they stop.

"Gunshots." Casie said.

"Meaning we have to get off the street." Mason tells them as he runs into an apartment building. Casie and Tyler weren't too far behind him. Mason and Casie then blocks the door with anything they could and they headed upstairs.

"We better look around for any supplies." Casie tells them.

"Right." Mason said. The split up, Mason and Tyler went up to the next level and Casie looks on the first. Casie slowly went through the rooms, there wasn't much there. Some old rags, clothes, pictures. Casie then stops at a picture of a family and picks it up.

'They looked so happy.' Casie thought and sighs as she sits it down. Then a Stalker comes out from the room and chargers at Casie. Casie pulls out her handgun and shoots it in the head. The Stalker drops and Casie sighs as she shacks her head. 'Damnit, why did I let my guard down?' Casie thought as she walks out. Then Mason and Tyler runs over and Casie puts her gun away.

"Are you okay?" Mason asks.

"Yeah, just a Stalker." Casie replies. "We better move." Casie adds.

"Come on." Mason said and they headed down stairs. They found the back exit and headed back on track. Casie looks at the sky, the sun was high. Casie shacks her head and realize she has fallen behind a bit so she jogs to catch up. "Are you ok?" Mason asks worried.

"Yeah, don't worry about me." Casie replies and Mason sighs.

"So when we get to Jackson County, do you think they will take us in?" Tyler asks.

"I'm sure they will." Mason said.

"We'll worry about that when we get there." Casie tells them.

"Good idea, we have enough to worry about now." Mason said and Casie sighs.

"Right." Casie whispers. They headed out of Nashville and headed north. After spending hours walking they came to a town called Springfield. Like any town, it was abandoned. It was getting dark.

"We need a place to rest." Mason said and Casie looks at him.

"We do." Casie whispers. They stop at the first house they came to, they went in and scan. They then bordered up all the windows, back and front door and got settled.

"We better get some rest." Mason tells them.

"Talk to you two in the morning." Casie said walking off to calm a room for herself. She walks into one, it was small. It had a double bed, two bedside table and six drawer dresser. Casie closes the door and takes a deep breath as she walks over to the dresser and sits her stuff down. She then grabs something to eat and drink. She didn't have much left. She goes to take her scarf off but stops when she heard a knock at the door. Casie sighs as she walks over and opens it to see Mason. "Hey." Casie whispers

"Are you feeling okay?" Mason asks worry.

"Yeah, just tired." Casie said.

"Well, the plan is to leave as soon as we can, are you up for that?" Mason asks.

"Just knock to wake me up but don't come in." Casie tells him.

"Okay." Mason said. "Why?" Mason asks worry.

"It doesn't matter why Mason." Casie tells him and Mason nods. "Thanks." Casie whispers.

"Well get some rest, we have a big day tomorrow." Mason said walking off and Casie closes the door. She then walks back to her stuff and takes her scarf and gloves off. She looks at her left hand, seeing the bite mark. She then saw a mirror on the ground so Casie walks over and picks it up. It was cracked, but she could see the six year old bite mark on her neck. Casie sighs as she sits the mirror down and walks back to her stuff. She then grabs her hand gun and walks over to the bed. She then lies down on her side and puts her gun on the bedside table. With a yawn, Casie closes her eyes and tries to get some sleep. There will be a lot more walking to do tomorrow.


	2. The Next Step

Casie wakes up to someone knocking on the door and sighs as she sits up. Another nightmare. Casie heard the person knock again and sighs as she got up.

"Hang on." Casie said as she walks over to her stuff and grabs her scarf, putting it on. She then puts her gloves on as she walks to the door and opens it to see Mason who has a can of food with a spoon.

"Uh morning." Mason said.

"Morning." Casie whispers.

"Here, I brought you some breakfast. Not much but still" Mason said, handing the can over.

"Thanks." Casie whispers "I'll be down soon."

"Okay, cool." Mason said walking off and Casie sighs as she sits down and starts eating. Once she was done, she grabbed her gear and walked down stairs to see Mason and Tyler ready to go. "Good timing." Mason said as he grabs the can, putting the poon in Tyler's bag and throws the can. "Come on, we have a lot of ground to cover." Mason then said.

"Let's go then." Casie said and they headed off. Casie pulls the scarf up as a hoodie and Tyler looks at her.

"Why do you wear that?" Tyler asks.

"I just do." Casie tells him.

"Tyler, don't ask question." Mason tells him.

"Right, sorry Casie." Tyler said and Casie smiles.

"That's okay." Casie whispers. "How long to the next town?" Casie then asks.

"If I'm right, most of the day." Mason replies. Casie sighs.

"Great." Casie whispers. She then saw Tyler staring at her and sighs. "I wear the scarf because it was a gift from my friend. She was killed three days after she gave it to me so I wear it to remember her. That and it keeps the sun out of my eyes." Casie tells Tyler, it was mostly the truth. Her old friend, Clair, gave it to her to keep the bite mark hidden and she was killed three days after that, by bandits.

"I'm sorry." Tyler said.

"Don't be, bandits killed her. I got my revenge." Casie said smiling as she remembers. Mason looks at her and Casie sighs. "They had it coming, they killed anyone that went through their town. I made sure no more innocent people get killed by them." Casie tells Mason who sighs.

"Damn bandits." Manson said. "We could have ran into the same group or a group similar to them." he tells Casie who sighs.

"I understanding about surviving, but how can they live with themselves after killing so many people, humans. Some were only kids." Casie said.

"It's sick." Mason said. "That's why I got to protect Tyler."

"I'll be fine Mason" Tyler said.

"Do you have any family back in New York?" Mason asks.

"No, I don't." Casie replies as she looks away. That of course was a lie, she had an older brother named Alex. Alex doesn't know that she was bitten and she was too scared to tell him. She left him without leaving anything behind. He properly thinks she's dead. Casie sighs.

"I'm sorry." Mason said and Casie looks at him.

"Don't be. You have nothing to be sorry for." Casie tells him. Mason smiles. The made it out of Springfield and followed a freeway to the next town. Casie sighs. She didn't like the idea of being out in the open for so long but she didn't have a choice. They slowly made their way to the next town, Casie stayed on high alert. Then they heard a woman's scream which cause them to stop, looking around to find where it came from. Then a teenager was seen running onto the road. Casie runs over to her and the teenager clings to her. She had light brown hair that goes pass her shoulders, green eyes, fair skin and is wearing a blue shirt which has dirk and blood on it, jeans is teased at the bottom, a brown belt, white joggers and a brown bag. The girl breaks down in tears as she gives Casie a hug. Casie looks at Mason and Tyler as they walked over and Casie sighs. "It's ok, you're safe." Casie assures the scared teenager.

"They're all dead." the girl cries. Casie sighs.

"It's over, you are safe now." Casie said. The girl managed to calm herself down and looks at Casie. "Now, what's your name sweetie?" Casie asks.

"Teagan." the girl whispers.

"Okay Teagan, I'm Casie and this is Mason and his little brother Tyler." Casie introduces.

"We better move." Mason tells them.

"Good idea." Casie said and they headed off. Teagan kept a tight grip to Casie, still scared. Casie sighs as she wraps her arm around Teagan and Teagan smiles. Mason and Tyler led while Casie and Teagan fell behind a bit. After a while of walking, they found old parked cars on the road. Casie sighs.

"I don't like this." Tyler whispers.

"Nor do I, but we have to keep going." Mason said as he looks back.

"We're fine." Casie said. "But we can't stop so we have to keep going." she then tells him. Mason nod and they started walking. Casie then felt Teagan's grip around her tighten and Casie looks at her worried. "Are you okay?" Casie asks softly so Teagan was the only one who heard.

"I'm scared." Teagan whispers. Casie sighs.

"Don't worry, I won't let anyone or anything hurt you." Casie tells her and Teagan smiles. "So, can you tell me what happened?" Casie asks.

"I was with a group, there was seven of us all up. We ran into a group of infected; at least 12 stalkers, four or five Clickers and a Bloater. I ran off, I have no weapons to use. I heard the screams and I kept running and running till I found you." Teagan explains and Casie sighs.

"Stay close to me, ok." Casie tells her. Teagan nods.

"Is everything okay back there?" Mason asks.

"Everything is fine." Casie replies. Mason smiles. As they day went on, they all grew tired but they couldn't rest till they found the next town. Teagan yawns and Casie sighs as she looks up. It was getting late and they have spent most of the day walking.

"How much further?" Teagan asks.

"Not far." Mason replies.

"You said that hours ago." Teagan whines and Casie smiles.

"Stop whining and keep walking." Casie tells Teagan who nods.

"Why are you smiling?" Teagan then asks.

"You remind me of an old friend of mine." Casie replies.

"What was her name?" Teagan asks curious.

"Layla, she was my best friend." Casie replies

"Where is she now?" Teagan asks

"I hope she's still in New York quarantine zone, some place safe." Casie replies.

"Why did you leave?" Teagan asks and Casie sighs.

"I don't want to talk about it, okay." Casie tells her.

"Oh, okay." Teagan said. "Sorry."

"That's okay." Casie said. As night came, Casie got more worried about this plan. Teagan looks at Casie who sighs as she shacks her head. "Mason, where is this town?" Casie asks

"It should be coming up soon." Manson tells her.

"Let's hope." Casie whispers. They then came to the town Hopkinsville. Casie sighs with relief as they headed to find a place to stay. They found an abandoned motel and found a room. There was two double beds to the left wall with 4 bedside tables by them, a wardrobe to the right, a TV cabinet and a door straight across with leads to the bathroom. Casie sighs, knowing she'll have to sleep with her scarf on tonight. She walks over to the far bed and takes her bag, sitting it on the right side. Teagan walks over and sits down on the left. Casie then walks into the bathroom and closes the door, then looks into the mirror. She was getting worried. She takes her left glove off and stares at the bite mark.

"Casie!" she heard Mason shouts. Casie sighs as she puts the glove on and walks out.

"I'm fine." Casie tells him. After a quick meal, they all got into bed. Mason and Tyler shared a bed while Teagan and Casie shared the other bed. Casie sighs.

"Shouldn't you take the scarf off?" Teagan whispers.

"Go to sleep Teagan." Casie tells her. Teagan sighs as she closes her eyes. All Casie could think about is what the others will do once they find out she's been bitten. It scares her. Casie then sighs as she closes her eyes. She didn't have time to think. They have a long way to go.


	3. Fear

Casie wakes up, sitting up and sighs as she closed her eyes. A nightmare. She looks at the others to see they are asleep so she got up and walks to the window by the door. The sun was just rising. Casie sits down by the window and closes her eyes, remembering the nightmare.

_A 13 year old Casie is running from infected. She has gotten herself lost in an old offices building. She quickly barricade the door behind her, making sure they couldn't get through._

_"Move girl." Casie tells herself as she starts running. She then runs around a corner to see a bloater and runs the other way. 'Alex is going to kill me if I make it out of here.' Casie thought. She slams the door open that leads to stairs and heads down. She then stops by the ground floor and catches her breath. Once she calmed down and managed to catch her breath, she heads off. It looked safe. Casie went to run when a Stalker appeared in front of her. Casie went to stab it by the Stalker bites her neck. Casie shouts in pain as she kills it, then runs out. She ran and ran till she came to an old café. She then found a mirror and puts it up, seeing the bite mark. "No." Casie whispers with tears in her eyes. She then heard voices so she hides. She then peeps to see her brother, Alex. He has light brown hair, green eyes, fair skin and is wearing a military uniform._

_"Any luck Luke?" Alex asks as another man walks over._

_"Sorry Alex, she isn't here." Luke replies. "Come on." Luke then said walking off. Alex sighs as he follows him. Casie breaks down in tears._

_'I'm sorry Alex.' Casie thought._

Casie sighs as she pulls her legs up, wrapping her arms around them and buries her face in them. She felt tears running down her face.

'Why? Why did it have to be like this?' Casie asks herself. She then felt a hand on her shoulder so she looks up to see Mason with a worried look. "Mason." Casie whispers as she wipes her tears away and did her best to stop crying.

"What is it?" Mason asks worry.

"Don't worry." Casie replies softly. "Just, stuff I need to deal with, alone." Casie tells him and Mason sighs as he sits down next to her.

"Well when you are ready to talk, I am willing to listen." Mason tells her.

"You have enough to worry about with Tyler." Casie said.

"Don't worry about it." Manson assures her and Casie smiles, then sighs.

"Why are you up?" Casie asks, changing the subject.

"I'm always up early." Mason replies. "What do you think about Teagan?" Manson then asks softly.

"She's just a scared kid that lost everyone she loved." Casie replies. Mason sighs. "Give her time." Casie tells him.

"Right, we have all in that spot before." Mason said. Casie nods. "We better wake them." Mason then said. Casie got up and walks over to Teagan, gently shacking her. Teagan yawns as she slowly opens her eyes.

"Come on." Casie tells her. Teagan sighs as she sits up and rubs her eyes. Casie looks back to see Tyler awake. After breakfast they headed off. They slowly made their way out of town, keep their eyes out. Casie sighs as she remembers Alex. Why is this bothering her now?

"Casie." Teagan said, taking her hand and Casie smiles.

"Sorry, lost in my thoughts." Casie tells her.

"Dangerous." Mason said.

"Yeah, it is when you are alone." Casie tells him. Mason chuckles.

"This way." Mason said. Teagan sighs.

"Don't worry Teagan, everything is going to be fine." Casie whispers and Teagan nods. Casie fixes her scarf and Teagan looks at her confuses.

"Why do you wear that?" Teagan asks as Casie pulls it up as a hoodie.

"Because it was a gift from an old friend who was killed." Casie tells her. Teagan sighs.

"I'm sorry." Teagan whispers.

"Don't be, it happened." Casie tells her and sighs. 'I'm letting myself get too close to them. I have to push them out.' Casie thought and sighs as she looks at Teagan. 'How?' Casie then asks herself.

"What is it?" Teagan asks.

"Nothing." Casie whispers. It was too late, she didn't know what to do. Casie sighs. "When do you think the next town will be?" Casie asks.

"I have no idea." Mason replies.

"That's nice." Casie whispers.

"I hope it's close." Teagan said.

"Me too." Tyler said and Casie smiles. Tyler and Teagan then walks ahead while Casie caught up to Mason.

"Not too far." Mason tells them.

"We'll be fine Mason." Tyler tells him.

"Don't worry." Casie said and Mason sighs.

"Just need to keep them close." Mason tells her.

"I know we do." Casie said and Mason smiles.

"At least it's a beautiful day." Mason then said and Casie smiles.

"Yeah, it is." Casie whispers. After a while of walking they came to the next town and Casie sighs.

"We should look for supplies." Mason tells her.

"We should also be careful." Casie adds. Mason nod. They headed off to find more supplies. Teagan and Casie went into a house while Mason and Tyler went to the one next door. "Stay close." Casie whispers as she scans the large house. It had two stories.

"Okay." Teagan whispers. Casie then slowly creeps up stairs and peeps into a room to see three Runners. Casie sneaks up and strangles the first one. She then does the same to the last two and sighs as she looks around. She found a small sowing kit and packs it, just in case and a couple of clean rags. She then heard Teagan scream so she rushes out to see Teagan holding back a Stalker. Casie pulls out her hunting knife and pulls it off her, stabbing it in the head four times, letting the body drop. Casie then grabs Teagan who gives Casie a hug.

"It's okay, it's over." Casie whispers as Tyler and Mason rush up.

"It didn't bite me." Teagan whispers.

"I know." Casie whispers as Teagan lets her go. Casie then pulls out her pocket knife and hands it to Teagan. "Here, you need this more than me." Casie tells her.

"Thank you." Teagan whispers as she puts it in her pocket.

"We ran into a couple of Runners." Tyler said.

"There was three in the room." Casie tells them.

"We better move before we run into something worse or bandits." Mason tells them.

"I'll finish looking around first." Casie tells him.

"We'll look down stairs." Mason said grabbing Tyler and they walk off. Teagan and Casie looked around more, finding a few more clean rags. Casie then looks at Teagan who is still shacking.

"Teagan." Casie whispers as she walks up to her.

"It was scary." Teagan whispers.

"I'm sorry, I should have looked around better." Casie said.

"It's not your fault." Teagan tells her and Casie smiles.

"Come on." Casie said and they walk down stairs.

"Clear down here." Mason said.

"Good, let's move." Casie tells him and Mason nods. They headed off and headed out of town. Teagan grabs Casie's hand and Casie smiles. They slowly made their way to the next town. Mason looks back at Casie and Teagan and Casie sighs.

"What's wrong?" Teagan asks worried.

"I just have a bad feeling, that's all." Casie replies. 'What will the others do when they find out the truth about me?' Casie thought worry. Why has she let herself get close to them? Casie sighs. It doesn't matter now, she just hope Mason doesn't kill her. She knows he will do something to protect Tyler. The fact is, she's scared. Teagan walks off and Mason slows down so he can walk with Casie.

"Casie, you starting to worry me." Mason tells her.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to worry anyone." Casie whispers.

"What's wrong?" Mason asks and Casie sighs.

"I can't tell you. You wouldn't understand or believe me. It's too soon." Casie tells him. Mason looks at her worried.

"What does that mean?" Mason asks.

"I can't." Casie whispers and Mason sighs.

"Okay, well, when can you tell me?" Mason asks.

"I don't know." Casie replies. They walked in silent for a while. Casie fell back a bit, she didn't want to talk to anyone at the moment. It was dark when they came to the town. They found a house; Mason and Casie made sure no infected was inside, then barricade all the doors and window. After a small meal, Casie takes her gear off and lies down on her own. She left her scarf and gloves on.

"Casie." Teagan whispers as she walks over.

"What is it?" Casie asks looking over.

"Can I sleep by you?" Teagan asks.

"Sure." Casie replies. Teagan lies behind Casie who face forward.

"I'm scared Casie." Teagan whispers.

"I know Teagan, you have been through so much." Casie said.

"I wish my mum and dad was here." Teagan then whispers. Casie sighs, she doesn't remember her parents at all. Alex tells her stories, but she can't remember any of them.

"I'm sorry Teagan." Casie said.

"Don't be." Teagan whispers. "Do you remember your parents?" Teagan then asks and Casie sighs.

"No, I don't." Casie replies. "Get to sleep."

"Okay." Teagan whispers and Casie sighs as she closes her eyes.


	4. Journey

Casie up to Teagan's voice. Casie looks over to see Teagan kneeling behind her. Teagan smiles seeing Casie is awake. Casie sighs as she sits up and rubs her neck.

"Are you okay?" Teagan asks.

"I'm fine." Casie whispers as Mason and Tyler walks over.

"Come on." Mason said putting his hand out and Casie smiles as she grabs it. Mason pulls her up and Casie fixes her scarf. "We'll have something quickly eat then we can go." Mason tells them.

"Sounds like a plan." Casie whispers. "How much food do we have?" she then asks.

"Not enough if you ask me, we are going have to find some more soon." Mason replies.

"Food and clean water is going to be hard to find." Casie tells him. They had a quick bite to eat and headed off. Mason and Casie walked behind while Teagan and Tyler walk in front a bit. Casie sighs as she pulls her scarf up as hoodie.

"You don't have to have that up." Mason tells her and Casie sighs.

"I don't have to, but I like it up." Casie tells him.

"Look Casie, I know you don't trust me yet, but I'm curious on what you aren't telling us." Mason tells her.

"I know you are." Casie whispers. "Sorry Mason, it's way too soon." she tells him. Mason sighs and Casie looks away. She has a bad feeling. They headed out of the town and kept going. No one spoke for a while. 'If Mason keep asking question, I'm going to have to tell him. I hate lying to him and I feel so bad, but I can't tell them.' Casie thought. Mason walks up to Tyler as Teagan slows down.

"Are you okay Casie?" Teagan asks worry.

"I'm fine." Casie replies.

"I worry." Teagan tells her.

"I know, but don't, I'm fine." Casie assures her. Teagan smiles as she takes Casie's hand. Casie smiles. She can't remember last time she was this happy. Casie then sighs as she remembers her condition. Why has she let her guard down? 'It doesn't matter anymore.' Casie tells herself.

"Where are we going?" Teagan asks.

"We're heading to Jackson County in Wyoming." Mason replies and Teagan sighs.

"You heard about the sanctuary too." Teagan said.

"Yeah." Tyler said.

"That's where we were going, till the attack." Teagan whispers.

"We are going to get there and we are going to start a life there. All of us, together." Mason tells them. Casie smiles.

"We just need to get there." Casie adds.

"We do." Mason said and Casie sighs. As the day went on, it started to get hot. Casie sighs, she couldn't roll her sleeves up because of the bite marks.

"It's getting hot." Teagan whines.

"It is." Casie whispers.

"Just keep moving." Mason tells them.

"He's right Teagan." Casie told her and Teagan sighs. They then came to a new town and Casie sighs as she looks around. It looked abandoned, like all the other towns, but something was off. Casie sighs as they walk in.

"What is it?" Mason asks, seeing something was bothering Casie.

"I got a bad feeling." Casie replies.

"We better be careful." Mason then said. They looked around town, looking for any kind of supplies. They came to what looked like an abandoned school. They went in and slowly made their way around. Casie kept Teagan close, she had a bad feeling while Mason kept Tyler close. They came to what looked like a science lab. Tyler ran to a door which was lock.

"Damn it." Tyler said.

"Keep it down." Casie whispers. "Wait, here. There has to be a key around here." Casie then said.

"Be careful." Mason said.

"Teagan, stay with Mason." Casie tells Teagan who nods as she walks to Mason. Casie sighs as walks off to find the staff room. She walks down the corridor slowly and quietly. She stops at a door and tries to open it. Lock. She sighs as she looked in other science room. 'I hate science.' Casie thought, she did a bit of schooling back in New York and science was the worse subject. She then found some keys and smiles as she grabs them. She went back to lab where she left the others to see Mason waiting by the door,

"Found anything?" Mason asks.

"These." Casie replies, showing the keys. Mason smiles as he grabs them.

"Great, there should be things we can use to defend ourselves from the infected." Mason tells her, then walks in. Casie stood by the door and stayed on watch. Something was off about this school. She then heard something upstairs and sighs as she heads to investigate it. She slowly crept up the stairs, it was dark so she had trouble seeing. She then heard the noise again and sighs. She then turns around to be grabbed by a Stalker. Casie punched it, then pulls out her hunting knife and kills it. She then saw a Clicker and sighs as she slowly moved down the stairs. She then ran into the lab to see Mason and Tyler making things.

"What's wrong?" Teagan asks as Casie walks over.

"We need to leave, now." Casie tells them.

"Follow me." Mason said and they headed off. They then came to a window and Mason opens it.

"Go." Casie tells him. Mason climbs out first with Tyler and Teagan behind him. As Casie went to climb out, something grabs her. Casie looks back to see a group of Stalkers. Casie shoots on in the head and fell down. She quickly shot three more and sighs. Then a large group of Runners, Stalkers and Clickers ran in.

"Casie!" Mason shouts. Casie gets up to see Mason holding his hand out. Casie grabs it and Mason pulls out her out. They then ran off and jumped over a couple of fences. They then rested in a house and Casie drops by a wall.

"Casie." Teagan said walking on and kneels next to her.

"I'm okay, just a little shaken." Casie tells her. "And no, I wasn't bitten." Casie then tells Mason who smiles.

"Good, that was way too close." Mason said.

"Tell me about it." Casie whispers. "From now on, we don't go in schools." Casie then tells them.

"Deal." Mason said and Casie smiles as she got up, then helps Teagan up.

"I don't know about you, but I think we should leave this place." Casie tells them.

"I agree." Tyler said and Mason nods.

"Come on, we have a lot of ground to cover and little time to cover it." Mason tells them and they headed off. They found their way out of town and kept going. Casie dropped to back a bit, she needed to clear her head.

'That was way too close. Thank goodness it was me who got stuck in that school and not them.' Casie thought. Teagan stops and waited for Casie. "Keep going." Casie tells her as she caught up. Teagan walked next to Casie.

"I thought I was going to lose you." Teagan admits and Casie sighs.

"You can't lose me that easily." Casie tells her. Teagan takes Casie's hand and sighs.

"It's just, I lost my last group and my friends. I don't want to be alone." Teagan tells her. Casie pulls Teagan closer and Teagan wraps her arms around Casie.

"You will never be alone Teagan." Casie tells her. They walked through the rest of the day. By the afternoon, the day cooled down. Teagan walks off and Mason slows down.

"How are you holding up?" Mason asks.

"I'm fine." Casie replies.

"Should have known that the school was filled with infected." Mason said.

"Don't worry, we got out and everyone is fine. A part of me is glade I was the one that stuck there." Casie tells him.

"Are you sure you are okay?" Mason asks worry.

"I am Mason, I have been in tougher situations." Casie replies. "And a couple of times, I was alone." she adds.

"Do you think they have a cure for this?" Mason asks.

"I have no idea." Casie replies. "Is anyone even working on a cure?" Casie asks.

"I heard rumours that the Fireflies are working on a cure, but I don't know if they are true." Mason explains.

"I have no faith in the Fireflies." Casie admits.

"Why?" Mason asks.

"False hope, that's all they give. I ran into a few people who left that group because of that." Casie explains. "You can't anyone these days." Casie adds.

"Well you can trust us." Mason said and Casie smiles.

"I hope I can." Casie said. As night came, they came to the next town and walked around for a bit to find a place to stay. They found a small home and looked around. Mason and Casie then barricade themselves in. They walked into what looked like the living area. Casie made sure Teagan got to sleep. She then looks at Mason and Tyler to see Tyler asleep. Casie then takes her gear off and sighs as she walks to the window. Mason then walks over and Casie smiles.

"Are you okay?" Mason asks.

"I'm fine, not tired yet." Casie replies.

"You should still try and rest." Mason tells her.

"Yeah, I know I should try." Casie whispers. "I just need time, to think about everything."

"Today was too close." Mason said walking closer.

"It was, I can't believe it happen." Casie admits as she looks at Mason. "I'm going to lay down, talk to you in the morning." Casie said walking off and lies down by Teagan. She looks over to see Mason walks over and lies down by Tyler. Casie smiles as she lies down and closes her eyes. Tomorrow is going to be just as long, if not longer.


	5. Right Direction

Casie wakes up panting and sighs as Mason walks over to her worried. Another nightmare. They have been getting worse and she doesn't know why.

"Are you okay?" Mason asks worry.

"I'm fine, nightmare." Casie replies as Mason helps her up. "They have been getting worse and I don't know why." Casie adds.

"Do you want to talk about them?" Mason asks worry.

"No, I'm fine." Casie replies as she shacks her head. "Just something I have to deal with." Casie tells him and Mason sighs.

"You keep saying that, but you can talk to me. I can help." Mason tells her.

"Don't worry about me." Casie tells him as she grabs her gear.

"We are in this together Casie, if there is something bothering you than tell me." Mason tells her.

"I've heard that speech before." Casie whispers and Mason looks at her confused. "I told him, he then tried to kill me." Casie adds and Mason sighs. "You can see why I have trust issue." Casie said walking off. She walks outside to see the sun just starting to rise. She then pulls up her left sleeve and stares at the bite mark. She then remembers how she got it.

_A 14 year old Casie is walking down a highway with only a bow and seven arrows left. She has also picked up a pocket knife which could come in handy. She then heard a scream and ran towards it. She then saw a young girl running form a Stalker. The girl has black hair, blue eyes and is wearing a pink dress that is covered in dirt and ripped and white shoes. The Stalker has its back to Casie and is about to attack the girl. Casie runs over and jumps in the Stalkers back, wrapping her arm around its neck. The Stalker fought and managed to bite Casie's arm. Casie groans as she pulls out her pocket knife and starts stabbing the Stalker in the head. It drops and Casie sighs as she looks at her arm. Another bite mark._

_'Great.' Casie thought as she looks at the girl. Casie drops to one knee as the kid walks up to her. _

_"Who are you?" the girl asks._

_"My name is Casie" Casie replies "What's your name?" Casie then asks._

_"Sally." Sally replies. Then Casie saw a group of people run over stands up, walking back._

_"Sally." a woman said walking to the kid._

_"Mummy." Sally said smiling as she was picked up by her mother._

_"Who's this?" a guy asks._

_"Casie." Sally replies. "She saved me."_

_"She infected." the first guy said._

_"Which bite mark gave that away?" Casie asks. Sally's mother sat Sally down and walks up to Casie._

_"This one looks old." Sally's mother said._

_"Louise, get back." the first guy tells her._

_"Shut it James." Louise tells him. "She's just a kid."_

_"And infected." James adds. Louise grabs Casie's left arm and sighs. _

_"This is new." Louise said._

_"I just got it, when I saved your kid." Casie tells her. Louise takes her bag off and pulls out a long sleeve white skivvy._

_"I know this is a bit big, but you will grow." Louise tells Casie as she hands the skivvy over. Casie looks at her shock._

_"Um, thank you." Casie said._

_"Bring her." James said, giving in._

_"Wait, what?" Casie said shock as she walks back. She feared the worse._

_"It's okay, we aren't going to hurt you." Louise assures her._

_"I'm infected, I'm dangerous." Casie said as James walks over._

_"You are also a scared kid who doesn't know what she is doing." James said and Casie sighs, he was right. They then heard more infected and headed off._

Casie sighs as she pulls down her sleeve and sighs. She left them seven months after that. She learnt so much from them. She helped them get to the Fireflies, but she wasn't staying. She knows they are safe though. Casie then pulls her scarf up as a hoodie as Teagan walks over.

"We are getting something to eat." Teagan tells her.

"Okay." Casie whispers as they walk in. After breakfast they headed off. Casie walked at the back. Casie then looks at the skivvy sleeve and smiles. She has had this damn skivvy thing for five years. With a sigh she looks up. After a while of walking they came to a city. Casie saw the welcome sign so she runs over to find out where they are. She brushed the dirt off the sign and smiles. Evansville. She then saw Mason who smiles.

"Well at least we know where we are." Mason said.

"Let me guess, we are still lost." Casie said as they walked into he abandoned city.

"Yeah, look we will find supplies and a map." Mason tells them. They spent a while walking around, they found a military stash of food and other supplies so they helped themselves. Casie then found a map and opens it up.

"Mason." Casie said and Mason walks over, standing behind Casie.

"Great." Mason said as he places his hands on Casie's, looking over her shoulder. Casie felt a slight blush as she felt her back against his chest. He was so close to her. "We still have a lot of ground to cover, but I think we can do it." Mason explains.

"I know we can." Casie said.

"Great find Casie." Mason said and Casie smiles. Mason walks back and Casie folds the map off. She then puts it in her bag and they headed off. They then came to a road block and headed through an offices building.

"I don't like this." Casie whispers. They then heard a vehicle stop and they started running. They came out the back and they kept going. They heard gunshots. Teagan grabs Casie's hand and Casie sighs. The military. They came to an old café and hid at the back. Casie looks around and found clean rags, but that was it.

"Okay, once we get our breath back we have to move." Mason tells them.

"Really Mason." Tyler whines.

"It isn't safe here." Teagan tells him.

"We have to move." Casie adds and Tyler sighs.

"Okay, let's go." Mason said and they headed off. Casie walks at the back, staying on high alert. They made it out of Evansville and they headed to the next town. Mason slowed down to walk with Casie. "Once at the next town we can work on a plan." Mason tells Casie.

"That sounds like an idea." Casie said. "We just have to be careful."

"We do." Mason said. "Look, about what you said, this morning." Mason starts and Casie sighs.

"Forget it." Casie tells him.

"I don't want to." Mason tells her and Casie sighs.

"Look, I have spent the last six years traveling. I have moved from group to group, but also spent a lot of time alone. I have been through a lot of crap. I have my reason to not to trust people and keep my problems to myself. You wouldn't understand any of them anyway." Casie explains and Mason sighs. "Trust me." Casie adds. They made it to the next town and they found a safe place to talk. Casie pulls out the map and they all look at it.

"If I am right, we are here." Mason said, pointing at the map. "We have a lot of ground to cover so… we head to here, Centralia. We can stay off the road to get us there faster." Mason tells them.

"I think we should stick to the road." Teagan said.

"She's right." Casie said and Mason nods.

"Okay, we'll take this road. It will take us a little longer, but we will get there in the end." Mason tells them.

"We can then follow this road to get to St Louis." Casie adds.

"Okay then, we have a plan." Mason said. Casie folds the map up and they headed off. They slowly made their way to the next town. Tyler and Teagan walk ahead. "I'm glad we have a plan." Mason said.

"Me too." Casie whispers. "It's been a busy few days."

"It has and it's going to get worse." Mason tells her.

"Let's hope we don't run into any bandits." Casie said.

"We can only hope." Mason said.

"I'm surprise we haven't ran into much infected or bandits or anyone." Casie admits. "When I was alone, every corner there was infected or bandits." Casie explains.

"It must have been hard, being alone." Mason said.

"I got by." Casie tells him. "I did what I had to do."

"Come on!" Teagan shouts and Casie chuckles. As night came, they made it to the next town. They found a large house to stay. Casie and Mason went through and made sure it was clear. They had something to eat, then Casie and Teagan went to a room to get some sleep. Casie sighs as she takes her gear off and lies down. "Casie." Teagan whispers.

"What?" Casie whispers back.

"I know you are hiding something, I see it in your eyes." Teagan whispers.

"Teagan, now is not the-" Casie starts to explain.

"It's okay." Teagan said cutting Casie off. "Whatever it is, I will understand." Teagan tells her and Casie sighs.

"Get some sleep Teagan." Casie tells her.

"Ok." Teagan whispers and Casie sighs as she closes her eyes.

'Will she understand? I don't think anyone would, though I have been wrong before.' Casie thought.


	6. Secret Out

Casie wakes up to someone pushing her. She looks next to her to see it was Teagan who has a worried look. Casie moans as she sits up.

"What is it?" Casie asks softly.

"I had a bad dream." Teagan replies and Casie sighs, for once she didn't have a nightmare.

"It's okay Teagan, it was only a dream." Casie tells her and Teagan nods. Casie looks at the window to see it was still dark. Teagan lies down and Casie sighs. "Go back to sleep." Casie tells her. Teagan slowly nods and Casie got up. She grabbed her gear and sighs as she looks at Teagan. She was asleep again. Casie smiles as she heads down stairs and sits by a window. It was starting to get light. She then felt a hand on her shoulder so she looks back to see Mason. "Mason, why are you up?" Casie asks.

"I heard you walk down." Mason replies as he sits next to Casie.

"Sorry." Casie said.

"Don't be." Mason tells her. "Why are you up?" Mason asks worry.

"Teagan woke me, she had a nightmare. She's asleep now, but once I'm up, I can't get back to sleep." Casie explains.

"Same here." Mason said and Casie smiles. They then heard banging on the door so they got and headed upstairs. Casie runs into the room Teagan is in to see her awake.

"What is that noise?" Teagan asks scare.

"Don't know, but we have to move." Casie tells her. Teagan got up and grabs her bag. The pair run out to see Mason and Tyler waiting.

"It's infected." Mason tells them.

"Great, how did they find us?" Casie asks.

"Who cares, we have to move." Tyler tells them.

"We need to fight through them to the back door." Mason said. Casie pulls out her hunting knife and walks down first. She saw a lag regroup of Stalkers and sighs as Mason walks down. They fought through with Teagan and Tyler close. Once at the back, Casie runs to the fence and boost Tyler and Teagan over. Mason jumps over and Casie sighs as she saw Bloater. She then jumps over and sighs.

"We have to move." Casie tells them and they started running. Teagan grabs Casie's hand and they headed off. They found an old car dealer. They ran in and they hide in the back offices.

"That was close." Tyler pants.

"So what now?" Casie asks as she looks at Mason.

"I have no idea." Mason replies. "But we have to keep to the plan."

"Leaving is the only choice we have. I'll go and look around. Make sure it's safe, then come back to get you three." Casie tells them.

"No, we go together." Mason tells her and Casie sighs. They headed off and Casie walked ahead. A Stalker jumped out and Casie stabs it in the head.

"Damn Stalkers." Casie whispers as they kept going. They headed out of town and Casie fell back. Mason looks back worried and Casie sighs as she pulls the scarf up as a hoodie. The sun started to rise. This was the earliest they have started walking. Casie sighs as she remembers when she was bitten when she was 15.

_A 15 year old Casie is fighting off a group of Runners. She then climbs up a ladder and looks down. They were everywhere. She kept climbing up in hopes she can find another way around them. Then a Stalker jumps out of the window and Casie pushes it back. It then bites Casie who punches it and sighs as she kept climbing. She crawls into a room and looks at her left hand, seeing the bite mark between thumb and index finger._

_'Great, that's the third one I have.' Casie thought as she kept climbing. She then climbs into a room and looks around for anything she can use. She then found black fingerless gloves and chuckles as she grabs them. 'Talk about luck.' Casie thought as she puts them on and kept going. _

Casie sighs as she puts her hands in front of her and smiles. She then takes off her right gloves and sighs. She never takes her gloves off.

"Casie, behind you!" she heard Mason shouts. Casie stops and turns around as a Stalker jumps her. Casie punches it, but it jumps up and knocks Casie down. It had Casie's pinned. Casie was doing her best to keep it off her. She couldn't get to her knife. Mason runs over and kicks it off Casie, then shoots it in the head. Casie crawls back and sighs as Mason puts his hand out. Casie grabs it and Mason pulls her up.

"Casie." Teagan said as she runs over with Tyler.

"Are you okay?" Mason asks worried.

"I'm fine, just shaken." Casie replies.

"We better move." Mason said and they started running. They then saw a group of Stalkers chasing them and Casie sighs. This was her fault. Casie puts her right glove into her pocket, she didn't have time to put it back on.

"We can't outrun them!" Tyler shouts and Casie sighs as she stops and turns around.

"Casie!" Mason shouts.

"Go! I'll buy you time!" Casie shouts.

"No, we stay together." Mason tells her as he walks over.

"I said, go." Casie tells him.

"No." Mason said pulling out a hunting knife. Casie sighs as she pulls her sleeves up a bit. There was around nine Stalkers. Casie stabs one in the head and sighs as they kept fight. Casie stands on in the neck and twisted the knife. Then other bites her wrist and Casie punches it, then stomps on its head. Casie sighs as she looks at Mason who walks up to her. All the Stalkers were dead. Mason grabs Casie's hand and sighs. Casie pulled her arms free and sighs as she puts her glove on and pulls down her sleeves.

"Casie." Teagan said worry.

"Stay back Teagan." Mason tells her. Tyler grabs Teagan and Casie takes her bag off, pulling the map out.

"Here." Casie whispers as she puts her arm out. Mason grabs it and Casie puts her bag back on. She then walks off with tears in her eyes.

"Casie!" she heard Teagan shout, but she kept going. She then felt someone grab her so she stops and looks back to see it was Mason. Teagan and Tyler then caught up. Casie pulls her hand free and sighs.

"What have you been hiding Casie?" Mason asks. Casie sighs as she pulls her hoodie down and takes her scarf off. The others look at her shock.

"When I was 13, I was exploring an office building. Little did I know, it was full of infected. As I went to run out, a Stalker grabbed me and well, gave me this. I lied to you about my family. I have a brother, he's name is Alex. He doesn't know I was bite, I just ran. For six years, I have been running. I have six bite marks now. I have one on either arm, one on my left hand and one on my ankle." Casie explains.

"You're immune." Mason said smiling.

"I didn't ask for this." Casie said with tears in her eyes. "I have spent the last six years running from my fears." Casie whispers.

"That's why you travel alone." Tyler said and Casie nods. Mason sighs as he pulls Casie into a hug. Casie looks at him shock, but sighs as she closed her eyes.

"It's going to be ok Casie, we'll keep you safe." Mason tells her and Casie smiles.

"Thank you." Casie whispers. Mason lets her go and Casie walks back.

"I'm guessing we aren't the first you told." Mason said.

"No, the first was when I was 14. I saved a little girl and the group took me. I didn't have my neck covered so yeah." Casie explains. She then puts her scarf back on and pulls it up as a hoodie.

"We better move." Mason tells them and they headed off. Teagan takes Casie's hand and Casie smiles.

'Turned out better than I thought.' Casie thought. They walk through the day and didn't stop. After a while, Teagan walks off and Mason slows down. "Look, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner." Casie said and Mason smiles.

"Don't worry about it. I understand." Mason said.

"Yeah, well people think I'm humanity's last hope. I hate it when people say that." Casie said with anger in her voice.

"Don't worry." Mason said

"You know, once in Wyoming, I won't be able to stay." Casie tells him.

"Don't worry, we won't tell them." Mason tells her.

"Mason, I have six bite marks. How am I going to keep the hidden all the time?" Casie asks and Mason sighs.

"We will worry about that when we come to it." Mason tells her.

"Okay." Casie whispers.

"And no matter what Casie, we will stay together." Mason adds and Casie smiles.

"You have no idea how much that means to me." Casie said and Mason takes her hand. By nightfall, they were at the next time. They looked around for more supplies then found a place to hide. They found a small house. They bordered it up and all sat down. Casie takes her gear off and pulls her hoodie down. Mason then started cooking.

"What I don't understand is, why you have so many bite marks." Tyler said.

"It just happened and they all were Stalkers." Casie told him.

"That's why you hate Stalkers so much." Teagan said and Casie smirks.

"Yeah." Casie said. After a quick meal, Tyler and Teagan went to sleep. Casie was staring at her new mark and sighs as Mason walks over.

"How is it?" Mason asks.

"It stings still." Casie replies and Mason sighs. "It's going to be like this till tomorrow. I hope." Casie added.

"Why haven't you look for anyone making a cure?" Mason asks.

"Fear." Casie replies. "I'm scared of dying Mason and I fear they will kill me to get the cure. It's stupid, I know, but that's how I feel." Casie explains.

"That's understandable." Mason said and Casie yawns as she leans into Mason who smiles as he wraps his arm around her. Casie slowly closes her eyes and Mason leans back, closing his eyes.


	7. Bandits

Casie wakes up, still lying next to Mason and smiles. She sits up without waking him and yawns. She then saw Teagan and Tyler was gone. Worried, she got up and walked around, finding the pair in another room.

"Casie." Teagan said smiling as Casie walks over.

"Morning." Casie said.

"We didn't want to wake you." Tyler tells her.

"Thanks." Casie whispers. "I better wake Mason, we have to move." Casie then said walking off. She wakes Mason who looks at her.

"Is it morning?" Mason asks as he got up.

"Yeah, Tyler and Teagan are up." Casie replies. They had a quick meal and hit the road. Casie and Teagan walked behind the boys.

"Is there something going on between you and Mason?" Teagan asks.

"I don't think so." Casie replies.

"Oh come on, we saw you this morning." Teagan said.

"Teagan, I'm infected. There is nothing going on." Casie tells her and Teagan sighs.

"Sorry." Teagan whispers.

"Don't be, I should be the one saying sorry." Casie said shaking her head. Teagan grabs Casie's hand and they kept walking. They walk in silent for a while. Casie sighs as she started to think about what Teagan said. Could there be something between her and Mason. Casie sighs. She had more important things to worry about. They caught up with Mason and Tyler.

"You ok?" Mason asks.

"Yeah, we're fine." Casie replies. Teagan then smiles as she runs off and Tyler follows her. "What is up with them?" Casie asks.

"I have no idea." Mason replies. "They are acting weird today."

"They are." Casie whispers.

"How are you feeling?" Mason then asks.

"I'm fine." Casie replies. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, thinking about what we are going to do once we get to Wyoming." Mason explains.

"You know I can't stay there." Casie said.

"We will figure things out, we stay together." Mason tells her and Casie nods. Once at the next town, they started walking around for supplies. Mason and Casie were checking a basement while Teagan and Tyler were upstairs, checking then house.

"It looks like only junk here." Casie said.

"We can still look around." Mason said as he started going through things. Casie sighs as she looks around. Mason then walks over to her. "What's wrong?" Mason asks.

"Nothing, just thinking about what Teagan and I talked about earlier." Casie replies. "Don't worry."

"I'm going to worry, last time you were lost you your thoughts, you got attacked by infected and almost killed." Mason explains and Casie sighs. "What was it about?" Mason asks.

"This morning." Casie replies and Mason remembers how they slept.

"Was it about us?" Mason asks.

"Yes." Casie replies as she goes to walk pass, but Mason grabs her.

"What's wrong?" Mason asks.

"Nothing." Casie replies.

"Don't lie to me." Mason said. "Why are you so defensive?" Mason then asks

"I'm infected." Casie said.

"So." Mason said.

"I lost all right of a normal life when I first got bitten." Casie explains.

"Casie." Mason said. Casie sighs.

"Come on." Casie said and he pair walks up. They then headed off. Casie fell behind and walks by herself. All she could think about was Mason. They slowly made their way to the next town. Casie slowly caught up with Teagan who looks at her worried.

"Casie." Teagan whispers.

"I don't want to talk about it." Casie whispers.

"What happened?" Teagan asks.

"Teagan, please." Casie pleads.

"Ok." Teagan said and Casie sighs. As the day went on, they made it to the next town. Casie walks to a sign and smiles, it read St Louis. They made it.

"We made it." Mason said walking over.

"We did." Casie whispers.

"Come on, what are we waiting for." Tyler said.

"Wait." Casie quickly said, before anyone could move. "I don't like this." Casie then said.

"We'll be careful." Mason assures her and Casie nods. She been to cities like these, they always had bandits. They slowly made their way through the abandoned quarantine zone. Teagan stayed close to Casie. They then heard voices. They all hide behind a car and Casie sighs.

"Bandits." Tyler whispers.

"Great." Teagan whispers.

"Keep your heads down, no guns, nothing that makes noise. Once one is alone, we can take them." Mason explains.

"Got it." Casie said as she grabs her bow. 'Thank you Alex for all those annoying lesions.' Casie thought smiling.

"Ok, we better be careful." Mason said.

"I say kill every last one of them." Casie whispers.

"Now isn't the time." Mason tells her and Casie nods. They slowly made their way through the place and Casie sighs. She then grabs an arrow and aimed at a bandit. "What are you doing?" Mason asks.

"He could see us." Casie replies. "He's alone and no one will know he is dead." Casie then explains.

"Ok, only if you know you can take him down." Mason tells her. Casie smiles as she shoots the arrow, getting the guy who drops.

"Got him." Casie whispers as they start moving. They came to a building and headed up. They then stop and Casie sighs.

"How many are there?" Teagan asks.

"At a place like this, a few." Casie replies. "I've seen a set up similar like this."

"So what do we do?" Tyler asks.

"Our best bet, would be to wait it out till night. Hide in the darkness." Mason explains.

"That's good, but I think we should get closer to a highway or something leading out." Casie said. "Map."

"Right." Mason said pulling the map out. They then look at it and Casie sighs.

"Ok, we need to find this road." Casie said, pointing at a freeway.

"Let's move." Tyler said. "We are running out of daylight."

"He's right." Casie said and Mason folds the map, putting it away.

"Let's move then." Mason said and they headed off. Casie dropped behind to make sure no one comes from behind. As they made their way through the dead city, Casie got more worried on what the future holds. Casie sighs as she shacks her head. Now was not the time to think about stuff like that. Teagan looks back and Casie sighs. This was way too dangerous. "Get down." Mason tells then and they hide behind a truck.

"What is it?" Casie asks.

"A couple of bandits." Mason replies and Casie sighs.

"We'll wait it out." Casie whispers.

"Come on, let's head back!" a voice shouts. Casie peeps to see the two men walk away. Casie looks at Mason and they cut through a café.

"This is getting out of hands." Mason said.

"We need to keep going." Casie said.

"Right, let's go." Mason whispers and they headed off. They came to the freeway and saw it was blocked with a large number of bandits. Casie sighs. "We better hide." Mason said as they looked around. Casie found some supplies. They found a room and hid in the back.

"So what's the plan?" Casie asks.

"We wait till dark." Mason replies. Casie takes her gear off and lies down, closing her eyes. When she woke, Teagan was shaking her and Casie smiles.

"It's time to go." Teagan said standing up. Casie moans as she gets up, grabbing her gear and yawns.

"Let's move." Mason said and they headed off. They came to the checkpoint and saw only a few people there.

"I'll take as many as I can, but we might have to fight our way through." Casie whispers as she grabs her bow.

"Let's do this then." Mason said. Casie took the light out and 3 men, but they were spotted. Mason grabs his rifle and starts shooting. They made their way in and cut through a building since the road was blocked. They came out through a pub. Casie sighs as they headed out and they ran. They ran out and didn't stop. Teagan grabs Casie's hand in fear of falling behind. After a while, it felt like Casie was dragging Teagan. They then stopped as they came to a bridge.

"We made it." Tyler said panting.

"Come on, we have to keep moving." Casie tells them as she starts walking. The others were close behind her. Mason then jogs next to her and Casie smiles.

"Good work back there." Mason said.

"Thanks." Casie whispers. "That was, well, easy compare to other places." Casie then said.

"Yeah, too easy if you ask me." Mason said.

"Let's try not to think about it too much." Casie tells him.

"Right, good idea." Mason chuckles. They kept going till the came to the next abandoned town. The found a small house and bordered it up as best they could. Teagan and Tyler took their gear off and laid down, falling asleep. Casie moans as she takes her gear off and looks at Mason. "Are you ok?" Mason asks.

"I'm fine, just tired." Casie whispers as she lies down. "Talk to you in the morning." Casie then whispers as she closes her eyes.


	8. Ambushed

Casie wakes up to someone pushing her. Casie looks up to see Mason and smiles. She then yawns as she sits up and stretches.

"Breakfast." Mason said, handing her breakfast.

"Thanks." Casie whispers as she starts eating.

"We all kinder over slept." Mason tells her.

"We had a late night." Casie whispers.

"Yeah." Mason said as he looks over at Teagan and Tyler.

"I'm glad they are getting along." Casie said and Mason looks at her.

"Yeah." Mason said sitting down. "How are you feeling?" Mason asks.

"Sore, but we have to keep moving." Casie replies.

"We do." Mason said. "We can stay here for a while, Teagan and Tyler wouldn't mind." Mason then offers.

"No, I'm fine." Casie replies as she finished eating. They got everything together and headed off. They took it slow, Teagan and Tyler were mucking around. Casie yawns, she wasn't really up for this walk, but she has to do it. They can't stay in one place for long, not till they get to Jackson County.

"What is it?" Mason asks.

"Nothing." Casie replies.

"You said you had a brother, right." Mason said, trying to start a convocation.

"Alex, he may have been annoying, but he was a great big brother." Casie said.

"He's in New York." Mason said.

"He's with the military, he will be where ever they send him. I remember the offered to send him to Boston, but he said no. He wanted to stay with me and he knew I wouldn't leave New York." Casie explains.

"Do you miss him?" Mason then asks.

"Every day." Casie replies. "He properly thinks I'm dead."

"Why didn't you tell him?" Mason asks.

"I was scared, I panic and I didn't know what to do. I thought I was going to, well turn into one of those things. I ran as far as I could so he didn't have to see me like that." Casie explains.

"And when you didn't." Mason said.

"I kept going." Casie whispers. "Found the bow and kept going."

"I'm sorry." Mason whispers.

"Don't be, I pray I never run into him." Casie tells him.

"Why?" Mason asks.

"The thought of seeing him after 6 years, how he would react and when I tell him why, well fear." Casie explains.

"Good point." Mason said.

"It is." Casie whispers.

"Don't worry, everything is going to be fine." Mason said and Casie smiles.

"Yeah, it will be." Casie said and Mason takes her hand. Casie felt a slight blush. "I just hope nothing goes wrong." Caley then said.

"Same." Mason said. Casie yawns and sighs. As they slowly made their way out of town, Casie looks around to make sure no one was around. "What is it?" Mason asks.

"Just, making sure nothing is around." Casie replies.

"Don't worry, we lost those bandits." Mason tells her.

"I hope so." Casie said. Who knows who those bandits? Casie sighs and smiles as she looks at Teagan who was smiling. They made their way to the next town. Casie sighs. They made their way through the town. They then came to a dead end, Casie then saw a garage door. Casie walks over and pulls it open. Mason smiles as he runs over with Teagan and Tyler. "Go." Casie tells them. Teagan and Tyler crawl under. Mason then goes under and Casie sighs. She then felt Mason grabs the garage door and Casie crawls under. Mason then drops it and they headed out. They found a small bandit camp and went through it, grabbing what they want. They then kept going, heading out. Casie looks around, there were more bandits here, that much was certain.

"Casie." Mason said and Casie looks at him.

"Sorry." Casie said, walking to him.

"I don't like this." Teagan said.

"Nor do I." Casie said and they kept going. Casie and Mason walks a head, Casie then grabs Mason before he walks down an alley and looks down, see a couple of bandits. Mason looks and sighs.

"Thanks." Mason whispers.

"We need to need careful." Casie whispers. They climb into a shop and Casie sighs as they head out the back.

"Did you see that?" Casie heard a voice asks.

"Move." Casie whispers, Mason jumps out with Tyler and Teagan right behind him. They hide by the window.

"Stop right there!" a voice shouts as Casie went to jump out, but she stops and sighs. She could see Mason waving his hand for her to go to him. Casie moves back and puts her hands up. "Now, slowly turn around." the voice said. Casie slowly turns around to see two men.

"What do we do with her?" one asks.

"We take her back with us, get her weapons." the other tells him.

"You do it John." the second one said. John hands his rifle over.

"I hate you Ken." John said walking over.

"Please, let me go." Casie pleads.

"Sorry, can't do that." John said, taking Casie's gear. Casie sighs. Once they took everything, they push her and they started walking.

"I'll call this in." Ken said, grabbing a radio. "Troy, you there?" Ken said.

_"I'm here." Troy said._

"We got a girl with us and bringing her in. Tell Ajax we are coming in." Ken tells Troy.

_"Got it." Troy said. "Does she have friends?"_

"Do you?" John asks.

"No, I'm a solo girl." Casie replies. "Friends get you killed."

"She's a loner." Ken said into the radio.

_"See you soon." Troy said._ Casie sighs. They came to what looks like a hotel, they walk in to be greeted by a group of men.

"Ajax is in his room, waiting." one said.

"Come on sweetheart." John said, dragging her upstairs.

"Don't call me that again." Casie whispers and John chuckles. They walked up to the top floor and headed into a room to see a man, looked around his 30's. He has brown hair, blue eyes and is wearing a checked blouse, old jeans and brown boots.

"Ajax." John said and Ajax looks over.

"So this is the girl." Ajax said, walking over.

"Yes sir." John said. Ajax chuckles as he grabs Casie and drags her into another room.

"Let me go." Casie pleads. Ajax pushes her and closes the door.

"Now, I'm going to ask some question and you tell me the truth. If I'm not happy with your reply, you will be in a world of pain." Ajax tells her. "Get it."

"I get it." Casie whispers.

"Now, are you really alone?" Ajax asks.

"Yes." Caley replies. "Last time I was in a group, they almost got me killed. Never making that mistake again." Caley explains. Ajax walks up to Casie and slaps her.

"Lie." Ajax said and Casie looks at him.

"No, it isn't." Casie said. Ajax then starts beating into Casie.

"What did I say?" Ajax said as he knocks Casie down. Casie moans as she crawls back and Ajax sighs. "Why are you here?" Ajax then asks.

"Passing through." Casie replies.

"Passing through, why?" Ajax asks.

"To get to the next town, I don't have a reason why." Casie replies and Ajax walks up to her. "It's the truth." Casie said.

"I believe you, this time." Ajax said, pulling Casie up and pins her against the wall. Casie tries to get him off her, but Ajax punch her in the gut. "So tell me, what is a pretty girl like you doing out here and all by yourself." Ajax said, running her hand down Casie's side.

"Let me go." Casie whispers as she fights him off. Ajax knocks her down and Casie sighs as she tries to crawl away. Ajax grabs her ankle, pulling her back. "Get off me!" Casie cries. They heard a knock at the door and Ajax gets up and walks off. Casie crawls back into a corner.

"We have a problem." John said.

"We'll talk out here." Ajax said walking out and closes the door. Casie gets up and walks over to hear what was going on.

"We have repot on a bunch of our men are dead. No one knows what is going on, we haven't seen anyone." Casie heard John said. Casie walks back and looks around, there was no way out. Ajax then walks in and starts beating into Casie, knocking her down and Casie puts her arms over her head as Ajax kept beating into her. When he stop, he grabs her by her hair and drags her out. He then throws her into a wall and Casie cries out in pain.

"Who are you with?" Ajax asks. Casie moans as she saw her gear.

"No one." Casie whispers, as she looks away. Ajax punches her, knocking her down. Casie looks at him as he grabs a gun.

"Tell me." Ajax said. Casie sighs as she closes her eyes. Ajax shoots her in the left shoulder and Casie cries out in pain. "Tie her up." Ajax said as Casie opens her eyes. Ajax walks off and John ties her up, then throws her by her gear. Casie sighs. She could hear yelling and gunshot, but she felt weak. Casie closes her eyes and sighs.

"Casie!" she heard Teagan scream. Casie opens her eyes as Mason runs over.

"Teagan, get her gear." Mason tells her.

"Got it." Teagan said. Mason picks Casie up bridal style and they headed off.

"Mason." Casie moans and Mason looks at her.

"It's ok, I got you." Mason tells her. Casie blacks out, she woke up to see they were walking on a freeway and it was getting dark.

"Where are we?" Casie asks.

"Hopefully, close to the next town." Mason replies. "You had us worried for a while there."

"Sorry." Casie whispers.

"Are you ok?" Mason asks.

"No." Casie replies, burying her face into Mason. "You can sit me down." Casie then whispers.

"It's ok." Mason said. They made it to the next town and they looked around. They came to a motel and went in a room. Mason sits Casie on the foot of a bed and sighs, seeing the gunshot wound. Casie places her hand over it.

"I can stich her up." Teagan said.

"Do we have anything to stich her up?" Mason asks.

"My bag." Casie said. Teagan opens it and found the small sowing kit. Teagan then helps Casie take her grey shirt off and Casie groans in pain.

"Tyler, look away." Mason said. Tyler turns around and Casie sighs as she takes her skivvy off. Teagan the quickly got everything ready and Casie looks at her shoulder. The bullet was in there. Casie then uses her fingernails to get it out. "Careful." Mason warns her. Casie pulls the bullet out and throws it. Teagan then starts stitching Casie up. "What happened?" Mason asks.

"I don't want to talk about it." Casie tells him and Mason sighs. Once she was stitched up, Casie puts her skivvy and shirt on, then gets up.

"Casie." Teagan said worry.

"I'm fine." Casie said.

"Let's cook something to eat." Mason said. After a quick meal, Casie lies down and sighs. She then saw Mason who walks over.

"Mason." Casie whispers as she sits up.

"I'm sorry." Mason said sitting down. Casie then saw Teagan and Tyler asleep on the other bed.

"They passed out quickly." Casie whispers.

"The amount of running I made them do, I don't blame them." Mason said.

"Look, I'm sorry." Casie said.

"Just, don't do it again." Mason tells her. Casie nods as she moved to the middle of the bed and Mason lies down next to her. "Thanks." Mason said.

"You're welcome." Casie whispers as she closes her eyes. She was tired.

"Night." Mason whispers.

"Night." Casie whispers back.


	9. An Old Friend

Casie wakes up to Mason getting out of bed. Mason looks at Casie as she looks back. Mason sighs.

"Sorry." Mason said softly. Casie looks over at Teagan and Tyler to see the pair asleep. Casie sighs as she sits up and looks at Mason.

"Don't be, I wasn't in a deep sleep anyway." Casie replies.

"Are you ok?" Mason asks, sitting next to her.

"Yeah, just want to hit the road when Teagan and Tyler are up." Casie replies.

"Do you want me to wake them?" Mason asks.

"No, let them sleep." Casie replies.

"Good idea." Mason said. Shortly after that, Teagan and Tyler woke up and they started breakfast. Casie sat by the foot of a bed when Teagan walks over and sits with her.

"Are you ok Teagan?" Casie asks.

"Yeah, worried about you." Teagan replies.

"I'm fine." Casie assures Teagan who smiles. After breakfast they hit the road. Mason and Casie walks behind while Teagan and Tyler were mucking around a head.

"Is Teagan ok?" Mason asks.

"Just worried about me." Casie replies. "Though she shouldn't be." Casie adds.

"We all worry about you, we need to watch each other." Mason tells her.

"I know I know." Casie whispers. "I'm not use to this, ok. I'm never let myself get close to people. The first was that first group I was with when I was 14 and there was this one girl 3 years ago." Casie explains.

"Sorry." Mason said and Casie sighs.

"I should be the one who's saying sorry." Casie whispers.

"Come on." Mason said, taking her hand and Casie nods. They slowly made their way to the next town when Teagan stops and runs off.

"Teagan." Casie said as she chase after her with Mason and Tyler behind her. They came to what looks like a crash car, looks like it has been there for years. Casie pulls Teagan back, not wanting her to get close.

"What happened?" Teagan asks.

"Looks like they lost control and crash into the tree." Mason replies.

"Come on, nothing we can do for them now." Casie said and they headed off again.

"Sorry, I haven't seen a car crashed like that." Teagan admits.

"Just, don't run off like that again." Casie tells her and Teagan nods. Casie sighs as she wraps her arm around Teagan and pulls her close. Teagan smiles. They made it to the next town and Casie looks around.

"We better be careful." Mason tells them.

"Good idea." Casie said as they head into the town. Casie looks around, no one was here or nothing. Casie sighs. They came to a street.

"Come on." Mason said. They walk into a house and Casie heads up stairs. She looks around and saw more stairs. Then Mason runs up and grabs her.

"You take this floor." Casie said breaking free.

"Be careful." Mason tells her.

"I will." Casie said heading up. Casie sighs as she looks around. Nothing. Casie walks to the window and sighs. She then heard the floor creek behind her. She then grabs her hunting knife and counted to 3, then turns around to see a woman. The woman tries to stab Casie, but she blocks it and knocks her back. The woman then grabs Casie and slams her into the ground. Casie moans as she tries to sit up, but the woman kneels over and tries to stab her, but Casie hold her back. "Get off of me." Casie tells her. The woman looks at her shock as she pulls back.

"Casie?" the woman said and Casie got a better look at her. She has fair skin, short auburn that just passes her shoulders, blue eyes and is wearing a black singlet, a red checked blouse that's open, old jeans, a black belt, brown army boots and a blue backpack with a punch of arrows sticking out. She was also carrying a handgun, a hunting knife and a bow over her shoulders.

"Alexa?" Casie whispers. Alexa takes Casie's scarf off and smiles.

"It is you." Alexa said, pulling Casie into a hug and Casie smiles.

"You're alive." Casie said.

"I could say the same to you Miss Infected." Alexa said, letting Casie go and stands up, Casie grabs her scarf and Alexa helps her up.

"Yeah, well I have gotten lucky." Casie said as she puts her scarf on and grabs her knife.

"Casie!" Casie heard Mason call.

"Who's that?" Alexa asks as Mason walks up.

"This is Mason, he's a friend." Casie replies. "Mason, this is Alexa, an old friend of mine." Casie introduces.

"Hi." Mason said.

"Found a new group." Alexa said.

"Kinder, we're a small ground. There are two more people I want you to meet." Casie said, taking Alexa's hand and drags her down stairs. They walk into the lounge room and Casie smiles.

"Teagan, Tyler." Casie calls and the pair looks over.

"Who's this?" Teagan asks walking over with Tyler.

"This is Alexa, a friend." Casie introduces. "Alexa, this is Tyler, Mason's little bother and Teagan." Casie then introduces.

"Hello." Alexa said smiling.

"We have to move." Mason said walking down.

"He's right." Casie said and they head off. Casie and Alexa walks ahead while Mason, Teagan and Tyler fell behind. "Did you find what you were looking for?" Casie asks. Alexa is trying to find where the rest of her family was sent.

"No, you were right, like always, but I haven't given up. I can find them." Alexa tells her.

"You will." Casie said.

"So how on earth did you meet these people?" Alexa asks.

"I met Mason and Tyler in Nashville, Tennessee. Tyler walked out after a fight with Mason. He had a gun, so I point mine at him. He called for Mason and we talked. Once we got to know each other a bit and come to the conclusion we were dangerous we hit the road together. We met Teagan the next day. She ran onto the freeway scared, her group was attacked by infected. She cling to me and I told her I would protect her. Like you did with me when I was 16." Casie explains.

"I remember." Alexa said. "That was a hard year for you."

"It was, but thanks to you, I kept going." Casie said.

"I have to say it, that Mason guy is cute." Alexa whispers.

"I…he, I guess." Casie whispers, going red.

"Someone has a crush." Alexa said, teasing Casie.

"Haha, very funny." Casie said.

"I know I am, but he is and you went red, meaning you like him." Alexa said.

"I'm infected Alexa, there can't be anything." Casie tells her.

"Who cares?" Alexa said.

"Just, stay out if it, ok." Casie tells her.

"Fine." Alexa said.

"Promise me you will." Casie said.

"I promise, you better make a move." Alexa tells her. As they made it to the next town, the spit up to find supplies. Teagan went with Casie and Alexa. As they went around, they found it empty. They ran into a couple of infected, but there was only Clickers, Stalkers and Runners. They met up with Mason and Tyler. It was getting late. They walked around and found a house to hide it. Casie and Mason barricade themselves in and got ready for a long night. Casie takes her gear off, as well as her scarf and gloves. Alexa walks over and grabs Casie's right hand.

"This is new." Alexa said.

"A couple of days ago, we were fighting a small group of Stalkers when one bite me. Had to tell the others the truth." Casie explains. "I also have another one on my ankle, I was crawling through the fences when I was grabbed and bitten by another Stalker." Casie explains.

"Stalkers just love you." Alexa said, letting Casie go.

"I know." Casie said.

"So for the two years you were with me, you never got bitten, but as soon as I leave you, you get two more." Alexa said.

"Uh, I guess." Casie said.

"Casie, can I talk to you?" Mason asks.

"Sure." Casie replies. "Watch Teagan and Tyler." Casie tells Alexa who nods and Casie follows Mason into the kitchen. "What is it?" Casie asks.

"Look, it seems you know Alexa and I need to know, is she dangerous? I don't want to be rude, but my brother is in the next room with her." Mason asks.

"No." Casie replies and sighs. "When I was 16, shortly after I got the bite mark on my righter arm, I was ready to give up. I thought if I kill myself, I would be free. Until I met Alexa. She gave me hope, looked around and protected me. She was like a big sister. For 2 years I was with her, till we went our ways. I promise her I would never, ever think like that again. Then I met Teagan, she reminds me so much of myself which is I tell her I'm going to look after her, because I will." Casie explains.

"I just needed to make sure." Mason said.

"I know, try to get to know her a bit more." Casie tells him.

"Come on." Mason said and the pair walks out. Mason walks over to Tyler and Teagan as Alexa walks to Casie.

"Was that about me?" Alexa asks.

"You got to understand, he doesn't know you like I do and Tyler is his little brother." Casie replies.

"I do understand." Alexa said. "So what now, rest here?"

"Yeah, we head off tomorrow when everyone wakes up." Casie replies.

"I have to admit, you got a good group here." Alexa said.

"They are good, give them time." Casie tells her.

"I will." Alexa said and Casie smiles. Then Teagan walks over and gives Casie a hug.

"What's wrong Teagan?" Casie asks.

"Nothing." Teagan replies as she looks up at Casie who drops down to her view.

"Just making sure Teagan, you worry me." Casie tells her.

"I'm just tired." Teagan admits.

"We'll see if we can have an early night." Casie said standing up and they walk over to Mason and Tyler.

"Drop it." Mason tells Tyler who sighs. "What is it?" Mason then asks Casie.

"Well I don't know about you, but Teagan and I are tried. Could we have an early night?" Casie asks.

"Of course." Mason said standing up. Casie smiles as she looks at Teagan. "Let's start dinner." Mason then said and Casie follows him to help as much as she can. After dinner, everyone found a spot, Teagan stayed close to Tyler and Mason.

"Are you ok?" Alexa asks Casie softly.

"Yeah, I'm tired." Casie replies softly. "Get some sleep." Casie whispers as she closes her eyes.

"Night." Alexa whispers and Casie smiles.

"Night." Casie whispers back.


	10. Trust

Casie wakes up with sunlight in her eyes and sighs as she opens her eyes. She sits up to see Alexa awake, lying next to her. She looks over to see Mason, Teagan and Tyler awake.

"Morning." Alexa whispers and Casie looks at her.

"Why are you laying here?" Casie asks.

"They hate me Casie." Alexa replies.

"They don't hate you, they just don't know you." Casie tells her.

"The way Mason stares at me, he hates me." Alexa said and Casie sighs. How was this going to work if Alexa and Mason doesn't work things out?

"Come on." Casie said standing up and helps Alexa up. The pair walks to the others and sit down.

"Morning." Mason greets.

"Morning." Casie whispers as Teagan moves next to Casie who smiles as she wraps her arm around her.

"We'll leave after breakfast like always." Mason said and Casie nods.

"Ok." Casie whispers. Alexa sighs and Casie looks at her. After breakfast they grab their gear and head off. Casie and Alexa fell behind and Casie sighs. "You know trust is a two way street." Casie said and Alexa sighs.

"I know." Alexa said. Alexa stops as she grabs Casie causing Casie to stop. "Look, I just don't like this plan of his. It's dangerous and if they find out about you, they will kill you." Alexa tells Casie who sighs. Alexa places her hand on Casie's cheek. "I worry because I care, I know I left you 2 years ago, but I'm back now." Alexa said.

"Are you coming!?" Mason shouts and Casie looks over, seeing him waiting with Tyler and Teagan.

"Come on." Casie said and the pair start walking.

"If he does something I don't like, I'm grabbing you and the girl and we are out of here." Alexa whispers and Casie sighs.

"Sorry." Casie said.

"That's ok." Mason assures her. "We better move." Mason then said and they headed off again. Alexa walks ahead and Casie sighs. "What is her problem?" Mason asks.

"I wish I could tell you." Casie replies. "But I don't even know." Casie adds and Mason sighs.

"Look, I'm sorry I'm not going to open my arms and welcome her in like I did with you. I see something in her, something I can't explain." Mason tells her and Casie sighs. She has notices something different about Alexa, what happened to her while she was gone? Casie sighs.

"I've notices it too." Casie whispers. "Give her time, she's been alone for 2 years." Casie tells him.

"How are you?" Mason then asks and Casie smiles.

"I'm fine." Casie replies.

"I just haven't walked to you in a while." Mason said.

"I know." Casie whispers. "Sorry about that."

"It's ok." Mason tells her. They came to the next town and look around for supplies. Casie grabs Alexa as Mason walks over.

"Yes." Alexa said.

"I just wanted to check on you." Casie replies and Alexa smiles.

"I'm fine, don't like this town." Alexa tells her.

"No, it's quiet." Casie said.

"We better be careful then." Mason tells them as he walks off.

"He's right." Casie said as the pair start walking around the house.

"I know." Alexa whispers.

"I want you and Mason to talk." Casie tells her.

"I'm sorry Casie, I just can't." Alexa said and Casie sighs. "He seems like a good guy, I just don't like getting to know people. Just you." Alexa adds.

"You need to change that." Casie tells her and Alexa smiles. "Come on." Casie said. They heard Teagan scream so run out the back to see infected. Teagan and Tyler were surrounded by Stalkers. Casie runs over to the pair as Alexa starts killing the infected.

"Casie." Teagan said.

"Stay behind me." Casie tells them as she pulls out her hunting knife and kills the Stalkers.

"Where's Mason?" Tyler asks.

"Good question." Alexa said stabbing a Stalker.

"I don't know." Casie replies. "Maybe he's across the street." Casie adds.

"Stay together he said." Alexa said as she kills another Stalker.

"Shut it Alexa." Casie tells her. Teagan screams and Casie turns around as Teagan kills a Stalker.

"Isn't that your old pocket knife?" Alexa asks as she killed the last Stalker.

"Yeah, gave it to her." Casie replies. Casie pulls Teagan and Tyler into a hug and Alexa sighs. "Are you hurt?" Casie nods.

"No, we're fine." Tyler replies. "Thanks to you and Alexa." Tyler adds and Casie sighs as she lets them go.

"I got one." Teagan whispers.

"You did." Casie said. "Tyler, do you have any other weapon besides that handgun? Any silent weapon like a knife or an axe?" Casie asks.

"No." Tyler replies.

"I have something for you then." Alexa said walking over and takes her bag off. She pulls out a small sharp axe and hands it to Tyler. "I found out last year, kept it just in case." Alexa tells him and Tyler smiles.

"Wow, thanks." Tyler said. Alexa puts her bag on and smiles.

"Anytime kid." Alexa said.

"You both need to learn to defend yourself." Casie tells him.

"But Mason said-" Tyler starts to say.

"I don't care what Mason has said." Casie tells him as she cuts him off and Tyler sighs. "If anything happened to me, Mason and Alexa, I need to know you can look after yourself and each other. I'll take care of Mason." Casie explains.

"Ok." Tyler said with a nod.

"Talking about Mason." Alexa said as Mason walks over.

"You missed all the action Mason." Casie tells him.

"What?" Mason said confuses, then saw the bodies.

"Come on, we have to move." Casie tells them and they head off. Casie and Mason walks ahead and Mason sighs.

"What happened?" Mason asks.

"Teagan and Tyler ran into infected, Alexa and I took care of them, but that boy needs more than a gun." Casie explains.

"And the axe?" Mason asks.

"Thank Alexa, he needs it." Casie replies and Mason sighs. "What did you say to him?" Casie asks.

"What do you mean?" Mason asks.

"When I told him about defending himself, he said that you said something, I cut him off before he could finish." Casie explains.

"I told him he didn't have to worry too much because I will always be with him." Mason replies.

"And where were you today?" Casie asks and Mason sighs. "If you had died before we met, that boy would only have lasted a day by himself. You need to think about stuff like this." Casie tells Mason. No one spoke for the rest the way to the next town. Casie and Alexa were training Tyler and Teagan while Mason stood on watch.

"Again Tyler." Casie said. "Remember, no the infected will wait around while you will kill one." Casie tells him.

"I don't understand." Tyler said.

"I know Tyler." Casie whispers.

"We should call it, we've push then hard enough." Alexa said.

"Good idea, we'll pick this up tomorrow night. Come on." Casie tells them. They all head into the house and got ready for a long night. Casie looks at Mason. Later that night, Casie lies by Alexa wide awake. She sits up and sighs as she looks at Mason who was by a window. Casie got up and sits with him.

"I thought you were asleep." Mason whispers.

"I could say the same about you." Casie said and Mason sighs.

"Good point." Mason said.

"What is it?" Casie asks.

"Just, thinking." Mason replies and Casie sighs.

"About?" Casie asks.

"The past." Mason replies and Casie sighs. "I protected Tyler too much, I didn't see, I didn't know, I didn't want to leave him. I just wanted to protect him." Mason said and Casie sighs.

"I know, Alex was the same." Casie whispers. "It's a big brother thing I guess."

"Yeah." Mason whispers.

"No one blames you for wanting to protect Tyler, I want to protect him and Teagan as much as you, but he needs to know how to fight. He needs to know how to defend himself. It's the world we live in now, if you can't look after yourself you are as good as dead." Casie tells him.

"I know." Mason said and sighs. Casie takes his hand and Mason smiles.

"We're in this together now, like it or not and Alexa is staying. Tyler and Teagan have a bound with her, as well as me. You need to understand that." Casie tells him.

"I do." Mason said. "It's late, we should get some sleep." Mason tells her. Casie gets up and heads back to her spot. She saw Mason lay down by Tyler and smiles as she lies down and ties to get some sleep.


	11. Training

Casie wakes up to someone calling her name. Casie moans as she got up to see the others awake. Mason walks up to her and puts his hand out. Casie grabs it and Mason pulls her up.

"You still have trouble getting up." Alexa said.

"It depends on what happens the day before." Casie tells her as they sat down and had breakfast. "Some mornings I'm the first up." Casie adds.

"True." Mason said and Casie smiles. After breakfast they head off, Casie and Alexa led the way.

"It's nice having you back." Casie said and Alexa smiles.

"I did miss you, having you around, taking care of you. Now seeing you after all these years, I see how much you have change and grown. I mean taking in Teagan and now training her and Tyler, you have grown up." Alexa explains.

"Well when we met I was ready to kill myself." Casie adds and Alexa sighs.

"Yeah, I'm glad I found you." Alexa said.

"Me too." Casie whispers. They slowed down so Mason, Teagan and Tyler can catch up. Alexa, Teagan and Tyler then walks ahead and Casie sighs.

"What is it?" Mason asks.

"I don't know, I just have a bad feeling." Casie replies.

"You too." Mason said.

"We just have to be careful." Casie tells him.

"We will." Mason said and Casie nods. They made it to the next town quicker than they thought. They found an area and got set up for more training. Casie sighs as she takes her gloves and scarf off.

"Are you sure that is wise?" Alexa asks.

"Yeah, don't worry." Casie tells her.

"Ok, come on you two." Alexa said walking off and Casie sighs as Mason walks over.

"Are you going to help?" Casie asks.

"I stay on watch, make sure no infected or bandits go by." Mason replies.

"Good idea." Casie said.

"Go easy on them." Mason tells her and Casie nods as she walks off.

"What are we doing?" Teagan asks.

"What we were doing yesterday, come on Teagan." Casie tells her and Teagan sighs. "You need to pretend I'm going to hurt you." Casie tells her.

"Ok." Teagan whispers.

"Same with you Tyler." Alexa said and Tyler nods. They started training, Casie kept grabbing Teagan and making her try again still she could stop her. Teagan was getting annoyed. She then swing the pocket knife and cuts Casie's left arm, causing Casie to gasp in pain. Alexa and Tyler stops as Teagan drops the pocket knife.

"I'm sorry." Teagan said as Casie puts her hand over the wound.

"Stay back." Casie tells them.

"Casie, I need to look at that." Alexa tells her as Mason runs over.

"What happened?" Mason asks.

"I cut Casie's arm." Teagan replies.

"It's fine." Casie tells them.

"Let me look." Mason tells her as he walks up to her and grabs her hand. Casie sighs as she moves her hand. "It will need cleaning." Mason said.

"I got something." Alexa said running off and Casie sighs.

"Teagan, pick up that knife." Casie tells her and Teagan nods as she did just that. "Go and sit down." Casie tells them. Tyler grabs Teagan's hand and the pair walks off. Alex walks back with a bottle and cloth. Casie sighs as she looks away, pulling her sleeve up to her elbow and Alexa cleans her wound.

"That knife has been in heads of infected, I need to make sure it is clean." Alexa tells Casie who nods.

"Just get it over and done with." Casie tells her as she looks at Mason. Once Alexa was done cleaning it, she grabs bandages and wrapped it up.

"We better move." Mason tells them as he lets Casie's hand go and walks off. Casie pulls her sleeve down and covers the bandages.

"Come on." Alexa said and the pair walks over to the others. Casie grabs her gloves and scarf, putting them back on. Teagan then gives Casie a hug and Casie smiles.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it." Teagan said.

"I know sweetheart, it was an accident." Casie said and Teagan lets her go. "We better go." Casie then said as she grabs her bag and Teagan nods. They head off and Casie sighs. Teagan and Tyler walks ahead and Casie grabs her left arm.

"How is it?" Alexa asks.

"It hurts, a lot." Casie replies.

"I wish we had something for the pain." Mason said.

"Sorry, I was lucky to find what I did." Alexa tells him.

"Better than nothing." Mason said and Alexa nods.

"I'm use to pain anyway." Casie adds.

"We better keep moving." Mason said. Alexa jogs to catch up with Teagan and Tyler. Mason sighs as he looks at Casie.

"Teagan really didn't mean it." Casie whispers.

"I know, she's a good kid." Mason said. "Just like Tyler, she has been through too much for someone her age." Mason adds.

"We all have." Casie whispers and Mason takes Casie's hand. Casie smiles. They made it to the next town and found a house for the night. Casie was checking upstairs when Alexa walks over.

"I saw you and Mason, holding hands, it was so cute." Alexa said and Casie sighs. "You like him, tell him." Alexa tells her.

"I can't." Casie whispers.

"Why?" Alexa asks.

"I'm scared." Casie replies.

"Scared, scared from what?" Alexa asks.

"It's complicated." Casie replies as she sits down on the bed.

"Casie, you know you can tell me." Alexa said.

"I haven't known him that long Alexa, only around, 11 days." Casie explains.

"What is the worst that could happen?" Alexa asks and Casie sighs. "Tell him, I have seen the way he looks at you." Alexa tells her and Casie sighs. Alexa saw Mason walks up and heads off.

"Casie." Mason said walking up to her and Casie stands up.

"What?" Casie asks.

"What's wrong?" Mason asks. "And don't say nothing, I can see through that lie." Mason adds and Casie sighs.

"Well…um, it's…I…" Casie said and sighs, she couldn't do it.

"Casie." Mason said.

"I…I like you, well…you know, but we haven't know each other for long and it's silly…and…um…" Casie tries to explain and sighs. She feels so stupid and childish. "I have to go." Casie said as she went to walk away, but Mason grabs her hand and pulled her back, then pulls her into a kiss. Casie looks at him shock and tensed up, but slowly relax. Mason breaks the kiss and Casie sighs. "I'm infected." Casie whispers.

"So." Mason said. "Stop hiding behind that and start living more." Mason tells her and Casie smiles.

"Are you two coming down?" Alexa asks as she walks up and Casie walks back. "And yes Casie, I saw the whole thing, so did Teagan and Tyler." Alexa adds.

"I hate you." Casie said.

"I know." Alexa said as she walks down stairs. Mason and Casie follows her and they started dinner. After dinner, Casie was lying by herself with a blanket over her. She couldn't sleep. All she could think about was Mason and that kiss.

"Casie." Mason whispers as he walks over and Casie looks at him. "Well that answers my question." Mason whispers and Casie smiles as Mason lies behind her.

"I can't sleep." Casie said softly.

"Same." Mason said as he wraps his arm around Casie's waist.

"We better get some sleep." Casie tells him.

"Yeah." Mason said and Casie closes her eyes.


	12. Friends or Foes

Casie wakes up to Mason moving and yawns as she rolls over to face him. Mason looks at her and smiles.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" Mason asks.

"It's ok." Casie whispers. Mason gets up and Casie smiles as she sits up. The others were still asleep. "Are you always the first one awake?" Casie then asks as Mason starts breakfast.

"Yeah." Mason replies. Casie gets up and walks over to him. Mason smiles. Slowly the other woke up, Casie sat with Alexa who smiles.

"How are you?" Alexa asks.

"I'm fine." Casie replies.

"I saw you and Mason last night." Alexa whispers and Casie sighs.

"I hate you." Casie said and Alexa smiles.

"I know." Alexa said. After breakfast they head off, Casie and Mason falls behind.

"It cold." Casie whispers. Mason wraps his arm around her and pulls her close. Casie went red.

"Is that better?" Mason asks.

"Yeah, a little." Casie replies. Alexa looks back and smiles as she face forwards. It took a while, but they made it to the next town.

"We should look around." Alexa said.

"Agreed." Casie said walking to her.

"We should stay together." Mason tells them.

"He's right, let's go." Casie said walking off. They walked around the empty town. They then heard voices and Casie grabs her gun.

"You heard them too." Alexa whispers as grabs her bow. They then saw 3 people, an older male, a young female and teenager, a younger female. The older male has fair skin, short dark brown, green eyes and is wearing a white long sleeved skivvy, a green shirt, jeans, a brown belt, brown boots and a large black backpack with handle of a fire axe sticking out. The older female has fair skin, black hair that is pulled up into a pony tail, blue eyes and is wearing a white and blue checked blouse, jeans, a brown belt, white joggers and a large black and grey backpack. Casie then saw a bow over her shoulder, a hand gun, a rifle and a hunting knife. The youngest one has fair skin, black hair that is pulled into a pony tail, brown eyes and is wearing a purple shirt, black pants, white and grey joggers and a black backpack. She looked only a teenager.

"Oh shit." The male said as he grabs his gun. Casie sighs as she puts her away and walks forward.

"Casie." Mason whispers as he tries to grab her, but Alexa pull him back as she puts her bow away.

"Hello, my name is Casie." Casie introduces.

"Hi, I'm Jensen and this is Madison and her little sister Emily." Jensen introduces.

"Are you dangerous?" Madison asks.

"No, are you?" Casie replies.

"No." Jensen tells her as he puts his gun away.

"Well, um…" Jensen said.

"Where are you heading?" Casie asks.

"Jackson County in Wyoming." Emily replies.

"Emily." Madison warns her.

"You said if we find people my age, they aren't dangerous. There's two of them over there." Emily said walking forward.

"Emily, beautiful name." Casie said. "This is Mason, his little broth Tyler, Teagan and Alexa. We are also heading Jackson County in Wyoming." Casie introduces as Mason and the others walks over.

"You can join us, we can watch each other back and get to know each other more." Mason tells them.

"I don't know." Madison said.

"Come on Madison, we have talked about this." Jensen tells her. "We would like that."

"Come on, we better leave this town." Mason said and they everyone nods. They head off. Mason and Jensen led the way, Tyler, Teagan and Emily mucked around ahead while Casie, Alexa and Madison walks behind.

"So you heading for a future too." Madison said.

"Anything is better than this, traveling, living in fear from bandits." Casie tells her.

"True." Madison said. "There has to be a safe place for them." Madison adds.

"And out if military control." Alexa adds.

"Yeah, we had to leave." Madison whispers.

"I know the feeling, I really do." Casie tells her and Madison smiles.

"Maybe I was wrong about you, you guys seem nice." Madison said.

"We are all the same, lost souls trying to find a home that is safe for the young ones, safe from bandits and infected. We need to stay together." Casie explains.

"We do." Madison whispers and Casie smiles as she looks at the sky. They made it to the next town and Casie sighs as Mason walks up to her and Madison and Alexa walks off.

"Are you ok?" Mason asks.

"I have a bad feeling about this town." Casie replies and Mason kiss her on the cheek.

"We'll be fine." Mason tells her and Casie smiles.

"We have been through it all before." Casie whispers. They walk over to the others and kept going through the town. Then they came to a dead end.

"Damnit." Jensen said.

"The subway." Teagan said, pointing at it. Casie walks over and heads down first.

"Spores!" Mason shouts. Everyone got their gas mask on, but Casie.

"No." Emily said and Casie looks back to see her gas mask I broken.

"No, we have a problem." Madison said. Casie pulls her the gas mask she carries, even though she doesn't need it and walks over.

"Here, take this." Casie tells Madison.

"What about you?" Madison asks.

"I don't need it." Casie replies and Madison grabs it, then puts it on Emily.

"We better get through this." Alexa said and started walking.

"I don't understand, how are you breathing this in?" Jensen asks.

"I'm immune, I'll explain when we get out." Casie tells him.

"It's a sad story, but a good one." Alexa said.

"Come on." Casie whispers. They use the train tracks to get through the city.

"This is so cool." Emily said. Teagan sighs as she runs to Casie and takes her hand.

"I'm scared." Teagan whispers.

"It's ok, I got you." Casie whispers back and Teagan smiles. They found a way out, but saw a group of Clickers. They all hid behind a vending machine that has been knocked down.

"Great, how do we get pass them?" Madison asks.

"I count 6 of them." Casie whispers.

"Casie, we can take them." Alexa said.

"We've done it before." Casie said, pulling out her hunting knife.

"I shotgun right." Alexa said sneaking off, pulling out her knife.

"Stay." Casie tells the other sand heads off. She sneaks up and kills 4 Clickers and Alexa kills 2 and a couple of Stalkers. Once it was clear, Alexa heads back to grab the others while Casie looks around for supplies. Mason walks over and Casie smiles.

"Let's go." Mason said and they head off. They made it outside and everyone takes their masks off. Casie takes a deep breath as walks forward.

"Ok, how are you immune?" Jensen asks and Casie turns around.

"Good question." Casie replies as she walks up to him and takes her scarf off. "I was 13 when I got this." Casie tells them.

"Impossible." Madison said walking over.

"But yet here you are." Jensen said.

"I ran away from because of this, leaving my big brother behind." Casie whispers as she walks away. She then puts her scarf on and pulls it up as a hood. "We need to keep moving." Casie tells them.

"She's right." Mason said and they head off. Casie walks with Alexa, Mason, Teagan and Tyler while Madison, Emily and Jensen walks behind.

"Why did you have a gas mask?" Alexa asks.

"Never know when one could come in handy. That and there are groups I have been with and I didn't tell them I was immune." Casie replies.

"Good idea." Alexa said.

"Think they will stay knowing I'm infected?" Casie then asks.

"We'll find out." Mason replies.

"I guess." Casie whispers. They walk through the night till they got to the next town. They found a large house to claim, they cleared it out and boarded it up. They then got settled in the living area. Casie sighs as she takes her takes her gear off. She then takes her gloves and scarf off. Then Jensen walks over.

"Hey." Jensen said and Casie smiles as she turns to face him.

"Hi." Casie whispers.

"I'm sorry to ask, but can I get a better look at the mark on your neck?" Jensen asks.

"Sure, I don't see why not." Casie said and Jensen smiles as he got closer and got a better look at it.

"Looked like it hurt." Jensen said.

"Not really, not as much as the others." Casie replies.

"And you were only 13, so young." Jensen said.

"Yeah." Casie whispers as Jensen walks back.

"And the other bite marks." Jensen said and Casie shows the bite mark on her left hand, between thumb and index finger.

"I was 15 when I got this one." Casie said, then shows her right wrist. "This is the newest one."

"Wow." Jensen said.

"I have one on my ankle, I got it last year." Casie tells him.

"How did you get that?" Jensen asks.

"Crawling through a fence and a Stalker got me." Casie replies. "I was alone then."

"Oh." Jensen said. Casie pulls up her sleeves and show her arms.

"I got the one on my left arm when I was 14 and the right when I was 16." Casie tells him.

"So many marks." Jensen said as Casie rolls down her sleeves.

"And I still haven't turn." Casie said as Madison walks over.

"I'm sorry, it is hard to believe you are immune." Madison said.

"It's ok." Casie whispers.

"Well thank you, for giving us the gas mask." Madison said.

"It's ok." Casie said smiling.

"I better help with dinner." Jensen said walking off.

"You said something about a brother." Madison said and Casie sighs.

"I have an older brother, his name is Alex and I left him behind in New York. I was too scared to tell him what I have done. I didn't want him to see me as one of those thing so I ran. He's in the military so I have no idea where he is now." Casie explains.

"I'm sorry." Madison said.

"Don't be, I just pray he is alive and well and doesn't find me." Casie tells her.

"Why don't you want to see him?" Madison asks.

"It has been 6 years, that's why." Casie replies and Madison sighs. "Come on." Casie then said and they join the others. Casie sat with Teagan and Alexa.

"Casie." Teagan whispers as she leans into Casie.

"What?" Casie asks.

"You won't leave us, right?" Teagan asks and Casie looks at her confused.

"Teagan, you know I won't leave you." Casie tells her. "Why are you asking this?" Casie then asks.

"A nightmare." Alexa replies and Casie kiss the top of Teagan's head.

"Don't worry Teagan, I'm not going anywhere." Casie tells her and Teagan smiles. After dinner everyone called it a night. Casie and Mason lies down and Mason smiles.

"How are you feeling?" Mason asks.

"Truth be told, I don't know." Casie replies as she rolls over to face him. Mason kiss her.

"Get some sleep." Mason tells her. Casie smiles as she rolls over so her back is to Mason and closes her eyes.

"You too." Casie whispers and Mason nods as he closes his eyes, placing his arm over Casie's waist.

"Night." Mason whispers.

"Night." Casie whispers back.


	13. The Past

Casie wakes up to Mason moving and looks over as Mason walks over to Jensen who has a crying Emily. Casie moans as she gets up and walks over.

"Is she ok?" Mason asks.

"A nightmare, she didn't want to wake Madison." Jensen replies and Casie kneels down.

"What was it sweetheart?" Casie asks softly.

"It's ok." Jensen tells Emily.

"I was alone, I don't want to be alone." Emily tells Casie.

"You will never be alone." Casie tells her and Emily smiles.

"We better start breakfast." Mason said walking off.

"Can you take Emily?" Jensen asks.

"I got her." Casie tells him. Jensen gets up and Casie sits next to Emily who smiles.

"Are you really immune?" Emily asks.

"I am." Casie replies.

"Wow, it must have been scary when you first got bitten." Emily then said.

"I was only 13 years old, I was so scared and I couldn't face my big brother so I ran. I ran and ran. When I didn't change into one of those things, I started to learn how to survive on my own." Casie explains.

"Did you met people?" Emily asks.

"When I was 14 I met my first group, I saved a little girl and got another mark. They took in me, train me and helped me. 7 months later, I went my own way. They were heading to the Fireflies." Casie explains.

"Wow and you kept going." Emily said.

"At one stage, I was going to give up." Casie admits.

"What stopped you?" Emily asks and Casie looks at Alexa who was asleep.

"Alexa did, she found me and looked after me. For the 2 years I was with her, I saw her as a big sister. I still do, truth be told and now I have Teagan to look after." Casie explains. Then Madison walks over and looks at Emily worried.

"What's wrong Emily?" Madison asks.

"Nothing, just a bad dream." Emily replies.

"Why didn't you wake me?" Madison asks.

"Because you have been having trouble sleeping." Emily replies.

"It's ok Madison." Casie tells her and Madison sighs, then nods. Casie saw Teagan wake up and gets up, then walks over.

"Casie." Teagan said, giving Casie a hug.

"Bad dream?" Casie asks.

"Yeah." Teagan whispers and Casie smiles.

"It's ok, I'm here." Casie tells her and Teagan smiles.

"Thank you Casie, for always being here for me." Teagan said as Madison and Emily walks over.

"And I will always be here for you." Casie tells her as Teagan lets her go. "Why don't you and Emily go and check on breakfast?" Casie said.

"Ok, come on Emily." Teagan said and Emily nods. The pair walks off and Casie smiles.

"I assume she isn't your sister." Madison said.

"No." Casie whispers. "She ran onto the highway after watching her group get killed." Casie tells her and Madison looks at her shock. "I took her in like Alexa did to me when I was 16." Casie adds.

"You have been through a lot." Madison said.

"Too much if you ask me." Casie whispers as Alexa walks over.

"Are you ok Casie?" Alexa asks worry.

"I'm fine." Casie whispers.

"Thanks, for your help with Emily, again." Madison said.

"Anytime." Casie said and Madison walks over. Alexa walks in front of Casie who smiles.

"Don't give me that smile." Alexa tells her and Casie sighs. "What's wrong?" Alexa asks worried.

"I got a bad feeling, I don't know what it is." Casie replies softly and Alexa sighs.

"Stay close to me today." Alexa tells her and Casie nods. They walk over to the others and got breakfast. After breakfast, they got ready to go. Casie sighs as Mason walks over and grabs her.

"What is it?" Mason asks.

"I don't know, which scares me the most." Casie replies and Mason kiss her.

"It's going to be ok." Mason tells her.

"I'm staying close to Alexa today, I hope you don't mind." Casie whispers.

"I understand, you be careful." Mason tells her.

"You too." Casie said. They headed off and Casie walks with Alexa. The pair walked behind the group to make sure no one feel behind.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Alexa asks.

"I don't understand what is going on. We keep walking and walking, but we are not getting anywhere." Casie admits.

"You doing this again, are we." Alexa said and Casie sighs as she nods. Alexa wraps her arm around Casie.

"I've missed having you around." Casie admits.

"I wish you came with me." Alexa said and Casie sighs as she looks at Teagan.

"I'm glad I didn't, I wouldn't have met them." Casie whispers.

"You have come a long way since we first met." Alexa tells her.

"I know." Casie said and Alexa smiles. As time went by, they started to get restless as they couldn't see the next town.

"How long?" Emily asks.

"I don't know sweetheart." Madison replies.

"We get there when we get there." Jensen tells them.

"That's how it normally works." Casie said and Madison sighs. Teagan walks over to her and smiles.

"Don't worry Emily." Teagan tells her and Emily smiles. It was a while till they came to the next town and Casie sighs. They walk through the dead city and Casie sighs as she looks at Alexa who sighs.

"We'll cut through the high school." Jensen said.

"Bad idea." Casie tells him as they stop.

"Why?" Jensen asks.

"Infected." Mason replies.

"It's the only way." Jensen said and Casie sighs, then nods.

"We be careful and stay quiet, we will be fine." Casie tells Mason who nods. Casie lead the way as they head through the school, cutting through classes when they had too. They came to a large hole and the door was jammed. "There is a slight ledge, we have to be careful. It looks like the fall goes down to the basement." Casie tells them.

"Lead the way." Mason said and Casie nods as she goes first with Mason close behind her. They took it slow. Then Emily slips and fall, but grabbing on the ledge on the floor below.

"Emily!" Madison screams. Casie runs and jumps down to the floor below and runs to Emily.

"Help." Emily cries.

"I'm here." Casie said as she walks to the edge of the hole and reaches out. Emily looks back and grabs Casie's hand, then slips. Casie pulls her up, but then the ground under Casie's falls and they both fall down into the dark basement, landing in the water. Casie moans as she sits up and looks at Emily.

"Emily!" Madison yells.

"Go, we'll meet you outside!" Casie yells.

"You look after her!" Madison yells and they head off. Casie then heard Clickers so she grabs Emily and sighs as the hide behind some old lockers.

"Ok, here is what we are going to do. We are going to walk really careful." Casie whispers. "I see spores so put you mask on."

"Ok." Emily whispers as she puts the gas mask on and Casie smiles.

"Good, let's start moving." Casie whispers. They pair slowly started moving and Casie sighs. This place was crawling with Clickers. Casie then grabs Emily as she saw a Bloater. 'Fuck.' Casie thought and sighs as they kept going. They came to some stairs, but there was a vending machine blocking the way up. "Come on, I'm helping you over." Casie whispers and Emily nods. Casie boost her over the machine and looks over. She then found a chair so she walks over and grabs it, then puts it by the stairs and climbs over.

"Smart." Emily whispers.

"Thanks, let's keep going." Casie tells her and they head up. Casie walks out and a Stalker grabs her. Casie punches it, then pulls out her hunting knife and kills it.

"Are you ok?" Emily asks.

"I'm fine, come on. Madison would be worried." Casie tells her.

"Yeah, I know she would be." Emily whispers. They kept going through the school and Emily takes Casie's hand. Casie smiles as she looks around. They walk into a room and a Stalker grabs Casie, Casie holds it back as she tries to fight the Stalker. Then Emily jumps on it back, stabbing it in the chest. It lets Casie go and drops as Emily walks back.

"Great job." Casie said smiling and Emily smiles. They kept going and Casie quickly grabs Emily as 2 men walk pass. Bandits. "Stay quiet." Casie whispers.

"Ok." Emily whispers. Once they were gone, they head off and Casie sighs.

'Why are they here?' Casie thought as she kept Emily close to her. They went around a corner to be grabbed by a man who slams her into the wall. He then jabs her with a needle and Casie gasp, but then kills him.

"Casie." Emily whispers.

"Move." Casie tells her as she got dizzy. They made it out and met up with the others. Emily ran to Madison and Casie sighs as she collapse.

"Casie!" Alexa shouts as she runs over and pulls Casie moans. Alexa lifts Casie into her arms.

"A man, he…he jabbed a needle into her." Emily said.

"Bandits." Madison whispers.

"We have to move." Mason tells Alexa who stands up with Casie in her arms.

"I got her." Alexa said and Casie looks at her weakly.

"Alexa." Casie whispers.

"I got you Casie." Alexa tells her and Casie sighs. "Stay with me" she heard Alexa said as everything slowly went black.

_A 12 year old Casie wakes up, lying in the middle of a street and looks around. She has no idea where she is. She then saw Alex so she gets up._

_"A-Alex." Casie said as she starts walking. She then starts running and Alex disappeared. Casie stops and looks around scared. "Alex!" Casie calls. She then heard a noise behind her so she starts running again. She wanted Alex. She then runs into a room and looks around shock. It was her bedroom. She turns around to see her door close and takes a deep breath as she opens it. She then saw Alex who smiles._

_"Ok Casie, I'm off. You be a good girl." Alex said, then walks out. Casie chase after him, but found herself in the middle of a highway._

_"Alex!" Casie scrams with tears in her eyes. She starts running again and screams when the ground under her disappear and she starts falling. "No!" Casie scrams as she saw water and lands in the water. Casie looks up as she starts sinking into the darkness. 'Alex.' Casie thought._

Casie wakes up panting and looks around to see she was in a room. She felt someone grabs her shoulder so she looks over to see Alexa with fear in her eyes.

"Alexa." Casie whispers and Alexa pulls Casie into a hug.

"It's me." Alexa whispers. "It was only a dream." Alexa then whispers and Casie closes her eyes.

"I…it was the same dream I use to have when I was 12, the one I told you." Casie whispers.

"Where you are looking for Alex?" Alexa asks.

"Yeah." Casie replies.

"It's late." Alexa tells her. Casie nods as Alexa lets her go and she lies down. Alexa walks to the other side of the bed and lies down.

"Where are the others?" Casie asks.

"Out in the main room. I told Mason I had you." Alexa said. "You had us worried."

"What did that man give me?" Casie asks.

"We don't know." Alexa replies. "Jensen said you would be fine."

"I don't feel fine." Casie whispers.

"Get some rest." Alexa tells her and Casie sighs as she closes her eyes.


	14. Big Brother

Casie moans as she wakes up and sighs as she sits up, placing her hand on her forehead and sighs. The same nightmare. She looks at Alexa who is still fast asleep. Casie sighs as she gets up, grabs her gear and slowly heads down to find the others. She saw Mason and Jensen awake in the kitchen. Mason saw her and smiles as he walks over.

"Casie, are you ok?" Mason asks worry. Casie sighs.

"No." Casie whispers. Mason pulls her into a hug and sighs.

"It's ok, I'm here." Mason assures her.

"I know." Casie whispers. Mason lets her go and they walk to Jensen.

"So what's wrong?" Mason asks.

"A nightmare, one I haven't had since I saw 12 years old." Casie replies.

"What happens?" Jensen asks.

"I wake up in the middle of a street, for some reason, I'm only 12. I look around, I have no idea where I am. Then I see Alex, my brother so I get up and say his name as I start walking to him. He disappears. I stop and look around scared, calling his name. Then I heard a noise so I start running. I run into a room which turns into my bedroom. I turn around and walk out my bedroom door to see Alex who says he's off and for me to be good. He always said to me. I chased after him, but found myself in the middle of a highway. I scream Alex's name as I start to cry. I start running again when the ground under me disappear and I start falling. I then land into water and look up as I slowly sink into darkness. I then wake up." Casie explains.

"Wow." Mason said.

"As I said, I mainly had that dream when I was 12. I haven't had it since I got bitten. I told Alexa about it." Casie said, then sighs as she thought of Alex. "I told Alex and he said he would…he would never leave me alone." Casie whispers with tears in her eyes.

"Casie." Mason said worry.

"I miss him Mason, I miss him so much." Casie tells him and Mason sighs. Then Alexa walks in and Casie smiles.

"The others are awake." Alexa said. Casie follows her into the living room. Teagan looks over and smiles as she runs over and gives Casie a hug.

"Casie." Teagan whispers.

"Easy Teagan." Casie tells her and Teagan nods.

"I was so scared." Teagan said and Casie sighs.

"It's ok Teagan." Casie assures her and Teagan nods.

"I'm glad you are ok." Madison said walking over and Teagan lets Casie go.

"Did those men follow you?" Casie asks as Mason and Jensen walks.

"Don't know, but we need to move as soon as we can after breakfast." Mason tells them. They had breakfast and they head off, heading to the freeway. Mason and Casie walked behind everyone as they headed out of the town. Casie rubs her left arm and sighs. "Alexa cleaned it up last night." Mason tells her.

"I keep forgetting it's there." Casie admits and Mason takes her hand. As they made their to the next town, Casie got worried. She sighs, Mason was walking ahead while she walks alone. Alexa then walks over and joins her.

"What is it?" Alexa asks.

"I bad feeling." Casie replies.

"Same." Alexa whispers and Casie sighs.

"I don't think we have seen the last of those bandits." Casie whispers and Alexa sighs. As the day went on, it started to get hot. Casie sighs as she looks around.

"How much further?" Madison asks.

"I don't know." Mason replies.

"We just walk till we hit the next city." Casie tells her and Madison sighs. Casie cross her arms.

"Aren't you hot in that?" Madison asks Casie.

"I'm use to the heat." Casie replies and Alexa sighs. "I'm fine." Casie tells Alexa who nods.

"Let's keep moving." Alexa said and Casie nods. As night came, they were still walking. The others got worried, Casie sighs as she looks around.

"I don't like this." Madison said. They then stop after finding a large group of dead military group. Case sighs as she walks over.

"Their new." Casie said as Jensen walks over.

"By the looks of it, they can't be dead for any more than 24 hours." Jensen adds. Casie sighs as she grabs a walkie-talkie and they heads off. They made it to the city and heads through.

"_Can anyone hear me? I need help" Casie heard Alex said. _They all stop and Casie stares at the walkie-talkie.

"Alex." Casie whispers.

"As in your brother." Mason said walking over.

"Yeah." Casie said. "I can hear you. What is your location?" Casie said into the walkie-talkie.

"_I'm stuck at St Mary's Medical Center, Blue Springs." Alex said._

"We are close." Alexa said.

"Ok, we are coming." Casie said into the walkie-talkie.

"_Be careful, it is full of Stalkers and Clickers." Alex warns him._

"I will." Casie said into the walkie-talkie and sighs. "I'm going with or without you." Casie tells the others.

"We go together." Jensen tells her.

"He's right." Mason adds and Casie nods.

"Plus, this is your brother. You saved my sister, I'm staying." Madison said and Casie smiles.

"Let's move." Alexa said and they started running. They found the right exit and Casie started to get nervous. She was heading to her brother. She started to think what she will tell him. He needed to know the truth. Casie sighs. They found their way to St Mary's Medical Center and Casie takes a deep breath as they slowly head in, ready for what was around the corner. Casie grabs the walkie-talkie and sighs.

"Where are you?" Casie asks through the walkie-talkie.

"_Second floor." Alex replies. _

"This way." Madison said. They head up, taking down a couple of Clickers. Casie walks out the stairwell first and looks around. She then heads off to find Alex. She needed to find him.

'Why are you here Alex?' Casie thought. She then saw bloody handprint on the glass of a door. She walks over and sighs. Fresh. She walks in and looks around, then saw Alex who points his gun at her.

"Why are you?" Alex asks and Casie shows the walkie-talkie. Alex sighs as he puts his gun down. Casie then saw Alex's shoulder wound.

"You're hurt." Casie said and Alex sighs.

"Don't worry." Alex said and Casie sighs. He doesn't recognize her.

"Alex Walker." Casie whispers and Alex looks over.

"How do you know my name?" Alex asks. Casie sighs as she pulls down the hood and walks closer.

"Alex." Casie whines and Alex looks at her shock.

"C-Casie." Alex whispers and Casie nods with tears in her eyes. Casie then gives Alex a hug, Alex wraps his arms around her tight. "Where have you been?" Alex asks.

"It's a long story." Casie replies softly.

"I don't understand, why did you leave?" Alex asks. Casie sighs as she lets him go and push herself free from his grip. Alex looks at her worried.

"Don't freak out and hear me out." Casie tells him as she walks back.

"Ok." Alex said. Casie takes her scarf off and Alex looks at her shock, seeing the bite mark.

"I broke my promise, I left the zone and went exploring. I was bitten. I panic. I didn't want you to see me as one of those things so I ran." Casie explains.

"I…how is this possible." Alex said.

"I don't know." Casie whispers as Alexa walks next to her.

"Bandits, we have to move." Alexa tells them. Casie puts her scarf on as they head out. Teagan runs to Casie who sighs.

"Stay close to me Teagan." Casie tells her.

"This way." Mason said and they head off. Casie looks at Alex who sighs.

"I don't like this." Madison said.

"Nor do I." Jensen adds.

"Let's just get the hell out of here." Casie tells him. They made it out and headed off.

"Kansas City is this way." Alex whispers.

"We'll keep going this way and find an offices building or something to stay in for the night." Casie tells them.

"Good idea." Madison said. They found and building and headed to the top of it. They then barricade themselves in and Alex moans in pain. Casie grabs hand and they found a spot alone.

"Let me look at that wound." Casie tells him.

"Ah, sure." Alex said. Casie helps him take his vest off and shirt off. She then got a better look at the wound.

"The bullet is still in, I need to get it out." Casie tells him.

"Can you do that?" Alex asks.

"I can, I did it to myself." Casie replies as she uses her nails and grabs the bullet. Alex held his breath. Alexa then walks over with a brown bottle and cloth. "Alex, this is Alexa." Casie introduces as she grabs the bottle and cloth.

"It's great to finally meet you. Casie spoke highly of you." Alexa said.

"She did now." Alex said and Casie smiles. Alexa walks off and Casie cleans, then wraps Alex's shoulder up. Once done, they had something to eat and got ready for bed. Casie was making sure Teagan, Tyler and Emily get to sleep. Madison has already passed out.

"I'm so tired." Teagan whines.

"Get to sleep then." Casie tells her.

"Ok." Teagan whispers.

"Night Casie." Emily whispers.

"Yeah, night." Tyler said and the trio laid down, closing their eyes. Casie checked on Madison who was with Jensen close by her. Mason walks over and Casie smiles as she turns to face him.

"You should head to bed." Casie tells him.

"I will." Mason whispers, then kiss Casie on the lips. "Night." Mason said walking off and Casie smiles as Alexa walks over.

"I'm going to head to bed too, take it easy." Alexa tells her.

"I will." Casie whispers. Alexa walks off and Casie heads to Alex who was sitting by the windows. Casie sits next to him.

"I can't believe you are alive after all these years." Alex whispers and Casie sighs.

"I'm sorry." Casie whispers.

"Come here." Alex said, wrapping his arm around her. Casie leans into him and smiles.

"I have missed you so much." Casie whispers.

"I have missed you too." Alex said and Casie smiles. Alex yawns as he lies down and Casie curls up next to him.


	15. Moving On

Casie moans as she wakes up to someone pushing her. She then saw Teagan, Emily and Tyler. Casie moans as she sits up and looks around to see everyone else was asleep.

"What is it?" Casie asks softly as she got up and they walk away from Alex.

"I had a nightmare." Teagan whispers. Casie moans as she looks out the window, it was dark. She sat down and sighs. Tyler sat on her left, Emily on her right and Teagan lies down between her legs, lying down and Casie wraps her arms around Emily and Tyler.

"Sorry to wake you." Teagan whispers.

"Just go back to sleep." Casie whispers as she closes her eyes. She fell back to sleep. She woke up feeling someone gently shoving her. She moans as she slowly opens her eyes to see Alex. "Alex." Casie whispers, then notices Teagan, Emily and Tyler were up.

"Come on." Alex said as he helps Casie up and Casie sighs.

"Are you ok?" Alexa asks.

"Sore, but let's go." Casie tells them as she grabs her gear. After breakfast they headed off.

"There's a stash close by." Alex said.

"Where?" Casie asks.

"This way." Alex replies and they followed him to the stash. They grabbed all the supplies they can.

"Medicine." Madison said smiling and Casie smiles as she puts some food in Teagan's bag.

"Is that too heavy?" Casie asks.

"No, it's good." Teagan replies and Casie zips the bag off, then putting food and water in her bag.

"If I'm right, we have at least a couple of months' worth of supplies." Mason said.

"Good." Casie said.

"We better go." Alexa said.

"This way." Alex said and they headed off. Casie walks with Alex, leading the way. Casie sighs as she looks at Alex.

"Listen Alex, I'm sorry." Casie said.

"I thought I lost you." Alex whispers.

"I wanted to tell you, but I was so weak. I heard you looking for me, I was hiding in a café." Casie explains. Alex sighs. "I didn't want you to see me as one of those things." Casie adds.

"I wish you came." Alex whispers and Casie sighs as she closes her eyes. They made it out the city and kept going. Casie cross her arms and looks away. She knew this was going to happen, the guilt. Casie then drops back and walks with Alexa and Teagan.

"What is it?" Alexa asks.

"Just, it's nothing." Casie replies.

"Teagan, can we have a moment?" Alexa asks. Teagan nods as she runs up to Madison and Emily. "Ok, what is it?" Alexa asks and Casie sighs.

"Just Alex, he wish I went to him after I was bitten. I was scared, weak." Casie explains and Alexa sighs.

"You did what you thought was right at the time." Alexa tells her and Casie sighs. "Hey, if you didn't leave, I never would have met you and you never would have met Mason or Tyler or Teagan." Alexa tells her and Teagan smiles.

"Yeah, I guess you are right." Casie whispers.

"I know I'm right." Alexa said as Mason walks over.

"Is everything ok?" Mason asks as Alexa walks off.

"Yeah, everything is fine." Casie replies.

"Look, I don't like Alex." Mason tells her. "And I don't trust him, as well as the others." Mason adds.

"At least he took us to the stash, we now have food and water for months." Casie said.

"I know." Mason whispers.

"Look, I don't even know how long he will stay." Casie tells him and Mason nods. "If he does anything wrong and puts our group in dangers, I will send him off." Casie adds.

"Thanks." Mason said.

"I know you want to protect Tyler." Casie whispers.

"And you and Teagan and the others." Mason tells her and Casie smiles. Mason takes Casie's hand and Casie leans into him. "We are in this together." Mason tells her.

"I know we are." Casie said. As the day went on, it started to rain. Casie was walking with Alex and Teagan who was holding Casie's hand. Casie sighs as she pulls her hood down. It was nice to feel the rain on her face.

"This is nice." Teagan said.

"It is." Casie whispers. They made it to the next city and started exploring. They found an old offices building for the night. They head up and cleared it out. Once done, they got a fire ready. Casie takes her gear off and sighs as Teagan walks over. Casie helps Teagan take her bag off.

"Thanks." Teagan whispers as Alex walks over.

"Anytime." Casie said and Teagan walks off. Alex sighs as she got a better look at Casie's bite make on her neck.

"I'm sorry." Alex whispers and Casie gives Alex a hug. "I have missed you so much." Alex then whispers.

"I've missed you too." Casie whispers. Alex smiles as he kiss the top of Casie's head and Casie lets him go. "I better help." Casie then said and Alex nods. Casie walks to the others and helped anyway she could. Mason then pulls her aside and they went to talk alone. Casie smiles and Mason pulls her into a kiss.

"How are you feeling?" Mason asks.

"I'm fine." Casie replies as they walk to the window.

"It's been a hard past 2 days." Mason said.

"And long." Casie whispers.

"Yeah." Mason whispers.

"How's Tyler?" Casie then asks.

"Tired." Mason replies.

"Aren't we all?" Casie whispers.

"Yeah, true." Mason said.

"I better check on Teagan." Casie whispers.

"Yeah, I better check on Tyler." Mason said. They walk back and Casie walks to Teagan who was with Emily, Madison and Alexa.

"Are you ok?" Alexa asks.

"I'm fine." Casie replies. "Are you ok here?" Casie then asks them.

"We are fine." Madison tells her and Teagan gives Casie a hug.

"I'm worried about you." Teagan said and Casie smiles.

"I'm fine Teagan." Casie tells her.

"I still worry." Teagan whispers and Casie kiss the top of Teagan's head.

"I know." Casie whispers. After dinner, Casie lays down with Alex who smiles at her.

"So, this Mason." Alex said and Casie chuckles.

"He's sweet." Casie whispers.

"As long as he doesn't hurt you." Alex tells her.

"He won't." Casie said.

"And how close are you to this Teagan?" Alex then asks.

"Close, when I first met her, she ran onto the highway scared. She watched her last group get killed. She clung to me. I told her, promised her that I would look after her." Casie explains. "When I was 16, I was about to give up when I met Alexa, she saved me. She looked after me. I see so much of myself in Teagan." Casie adds and Alex sighs.

"I wish I could have been able to protect you." Alex said.

"It was my fault, I left the zone, I went exploring. A part of me is glad I left, I never would have met the others and would have found out I'm immune." Casie explains.

"It's late." Alex said and Casie nods as she closes her eyes. It could be a long day tomorrow.


	16. Alone

Casie wakes up with someone pushing her and yawns as she opens her eyes to see it was Teagan who smiles at her.

"Morning." Teagan said and Casie sits up.

"Morning." Casie whispers.

"Come on." Teagan said as she walks off and Casie stands up. She walks over and sits down next of Alex.

"How did you sleep?" Mason asks.

"Fine." Casie replies. Teagan moves next to Casie and Casie wraps her arm around Teagan.

"Hi." Teagan whispers and Casie smiles. After breakfast they got their gear. Casie sigs as she rubs her neck as Mason walks over. Casie smiles as Mason grabs her hand.

"Mason." Casie whispers and Mason smiles as he kiss her on the lips.

"How are you feeling?" Mason asks worry.

"I'm fine." Casie replies smiling.

"Good, I have been worry. With everything that has happen over the last couple of days, I wanted to make sure." Mason tells her and Casie push him back.

"I'm fine Mason, we better get ready to go." Casie explains as Alexa walks over. Mason walks over as Alexa walks to Casie. "Yes Alexa." Casie said crossing her arms.

"Nothing" Alexa said smiling and Casie chuckles. "We're ready to go." Alexa then said and they headed off. It was a clear morning and Casie pulls her hood up. She saw Jensen and Alex talking and smiles. Casie then falls behind. She wanted to take it easy today. After all she has been through. Casie yawns as Mason walks up to her.

"Are you ok?" Mason asks.

"I'm fine." Casie replies. "It's going to be a long day." Casie adds.

"Yeah." Mason whispers and Casie sighs. "What is it?" Mason asks.

"It's nothing, I hope." Casie replies and Mason nods. As the day went on, all Casie could think about is what could go wrong. Casie sighs. After a while, they came to their next town and decided to look around. Casie walks ahead with Alex, she didn't like this place at all. Casie sighs.

"What is it?" Alex asks.

"Something is wrong." Casie replies and Alex looks around.

"I'll have to agree with you on that." Alex said. "We better be careful." Alex then said and Casie nods, they did. Teagan then runs up and grabs Casie's hand. Casie looks at her worried.

"What is it?" Casie asks.

"I'm scared." Teagan replies.

"It's ok, we'll be fine." Casie assures her, then looks at Alex.

"She's right, we'll take it slow." Alex tells Teagan and Teagan smiles. They came to a road block and Casie sighs as they cut through the hotel next to them.

"We should look around." Alexa said.

"She's right." Casie said and everyone nods.

"I'll take Tyler, Jensen, Madison and head this why while you guys head upstairs." Mason tells them.

"Good idea, you be careful." Casie tells him.

"You too." Mason said.

"Meet up in an hour." Alex said walking over and hands his walkie-talkie to Mason. "Stay in touch and contact Casie if you run into trouble." Alex tells him and Mason nods as he grabs it.

"Got it." Mason then said and Casie smiles.

"See you soon." Casie said.

"I hope so." Madison said. Mason, Tyler, Madison, Emily and Jensen walks off as Casie, Alexa, Alex and Teagan walks upstairs. Casie sighs as she looks around.

"Casie." Teagan whines.

"What?" Casie asks.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Teagan replies and Casie sighs.

"Same." Casie whispers.

"We'll have to be careful and try not to do anything stupid, Casie." Alexa said.

"I thought we agree we were never going to bring that up." Casie whispers and Alexa giggles.

"No way." Alexa tells her and Casie takes a deep breath.

"I hate you Alexa." Casie said.

"I know you do." Alexa said. They then walk into a room and Casie walks in the middle of the room. Then the floor under her creeks. Casie looks down to see the floor under her about to give way.

"Casie." Alex said worried.

"Don't come closer." Casie tells them. Then the rotten floor gave way and Casie falls three stories down.

"Casie!" Casie heard Alexa screams as everything slowly went black. When she wakes, she moans as she slowly opens her eyes to see a group of Clickers walking around her. She then saw she was still in the hotel. Did the others leave her? Casie moans as she slowly gets up and slowly starts walking pass the Clickers. She made her way out and heads upstairs. She then grabs the walkie-talkie and sighs. Smashed. She puts it away and kept going. She had to. All she could think about was the others. Did they really leave her here alone? Casie sighs as she made it out of the hotel and kept going. She had no choice. It was getting late and she needed, wanted to get to the next town in hope they are there. Hours later, Casie made it to the next town, it was late and there was no moon. Casie sighs as she walks into the dark town. She needed a place to hide. She found a building and sneaks in to see a couple of Clickers. Casie chuckles as she heads upstairs, she'll keep them alive just in case someone tries to sneak up on her. She climbs up to the 30th floor and walked in. There was a large group of infected. She sneaks past them and took shelter in a storage room. There was no infected in it. She then sets up camp and had something to eat. She then pulls out her radio to see what was wrong with it.

'Come on, come on.' Casie thought and sighs. 'It's broken Casie, give up.' Casie tells herself and throws the walkie-talkie away. There was no point to keep it. She wanted the others, for the first time in a very long time, she didn't want to be alone. She wanted to be with people, her brother, Teagan, Mason, Alexa. Casie sighs. Who knows where they are? Are they even looking for her? Casie sighs as she lies down. She needs her rest. She needs to find the others. She needs to.


	17. Fireflies

Casie wakes up panting and sighs as she looks around. She sighs as she rubs her neck. She wanted to find her group. Casie sighs as she starts making herself breakfast. She was safe here, she could hear the infected outside so there was no bandits. Casie sighs, she needed to move and find the others. After breakfast she packs everything up and sneaks out. She made her way down stairs and started walking down a street.

'Keep calm and keep going.' Casie tells herself. 'You have done this before.' Casie then thought. As she made her way through the abandoned town, she kept an eye and ear out for Mason and the others. She miss them. If this was with another group she didn't get to know, she couldn't care, but she got connected to them. Teagan looks up at her, she looks up at Alexa and Alex, plus she fell for Mason. She wants to be with them, she doesn't want to be alone. Not again. She kept going and made it out on the highway. She kept going west in hope she will find them. As the walk went on, Casie started to feel ill. She knows something bad is going to happen. The last few times she felt like this, she was right. Casie sighs. She didn't have Alexa or Mason to talk to. She made it to the next town and takes a deep breath, she can do this. She slowly made her way through the town. She then stops as she hears voices and panics. Who was out there? She kept going and saw two men with weapons. One saw her and points his gun at her.

"Get out!" he said.

"Ok." Casie said as she walks with her hands up and slowly walks over.

"Calm down Louis." the other guy said and Louis sighs.

"Look, I don't know about you, but I really don't want to die today." Casie tells them.

"Lucky, we're the Louise." Louis tells her as he points his gun down.

"I'm Kyle and as you know, this is Louis." Kyle introduces.

"Casie." Casie whispers as she puts her arms down.

"Hello Casie." Kyle said. "You look a little lost."

"I was separated from my group, I'm trying to find them." Casie tells them. "Have you seen anyone else?"

"Just bandits." Louis replies and Casie sighs.

"That's not them." Casie tells him. "We have 3 teenagers with us." Casie adds.

"We have to take her to the camp." Louis tell Kyle.

"Sorry Casie, but that's our job." Kyle tells her.

"Why?" Casie asks scared.

"Following orders." Louis replies and Casie walks back.

"Who are you guys?" Casie asks.

"We are with the fireflies." Kyle replies and Casie sighs.

"Come on." Louis said and Casie nods. Louis starts walking and Casie follows him with Kyle right behind her.

"So what happened with your group, I mean how did you get separated?" Kyle asks.

"I fell and was knocked out. I don't know why they didn't come for me." Casie explains.

"Maybe they left you." Louis said and Casie shakes her head.

"No, my brother wouldn't leave me alone to die." Casie said.

"Shut it Louis." Kyle tells him as he walks next to Casie.

"And Mason wouldn't leave me." Casie adds.

"Who is Mason? Is he your boyfriend?" Kyle asks.

"Yeah." Casie replies.

"Don't worry, you will find them." Kyle tells her and Casie smiles. They head out of town and Casie looks back.

"So where is this so called camp?" Casie asks.

"The next town, we came here to look for supplies. We also had 5 more people with us." Kyle tells her.

"I'm sorry." Casie said and Kyle smiles.

"It's not your fault." Kyle said.

"Unless it was." Louis adds and Casie sighs.

"I'm not a bandit." Casie tells him.

"Sure you're not." Louis said.

"And I'm sure you're not going to rape and murder me." Casie said crossing her arms and Kyle looks at her shock. "Isn't that what you men do?" Casie adds.

"Of course not." Kyle protests and Casie sighs. "No man will do that to you while I am here." Kyle tells her.

"Why are you being nice to me?" Casie asks.

"I'm a father, I have a 16 year old daughter. You are only young and…well my father instincts kicks in." Kyle explains and Casie sighs.

"I never knew my father, he died when I was young." Casie admits and Kyle sighs.

"Don't worry kid, everything is going to be ok." Kyle tells her and Casie manage to smiles.

"Thanks." Casie whispers.

"Just keep up." Louis tells her and Casie sighs.

"What is with him?" Casie asks softly.

"It's a long story." Kyle replies softly.

"Ok." Casie said.

"So where are you from Casie?" Louis asks.

"New York." Casie replies.

"You are a long way from home." Kyle tells her.

"I know." Casie said. "I ran off, I didn't like it there." Casie tells them.

"No one ever does with the military running everything." Louis said.

"They are a pain and my brother was one of them too." Casie said. "Well was, I hope he won't go back." Casie adds.

"I hope, for you." Kyle said and Casie smiles. They made it to the next town and Casie sighs. They kept going and came to the camp. Casie sighs as she follows Kyle and Louis to their camp. Then a woman walks over, she has red hair, green eyes and is wearing a green and white checked shirt, jeans, joggers and black fingerless gloves.

"And where is the rest of your group?" the woman asks.

"They're dead Athena." Louis replies. "We found a girl, Casie, she was passing through." Louis tells her.

"Casie, I'm Athena." Athena introduces.

"It's lovely to meet you." Casie said.

"Follow me please Casie." Athena said walking off and Casie follows her.

"I'm sorry about what happened." Casie said and Athena chuckles.

"Thanks Casie." Athena said. "I think I have seen you before." Athena then said and Casie sighs, she felt the same.

"I really don't know." Casie tells her.

"So how can I help you?" Athena asks.

"I need a place to stay till morning." Casie replies. "Then I'm gone."

"Why are you alone?" Athena asks as they stop and Casie sighs.

"I was separated from my group, they left me, I guess they thought I was dead when I fell." Casie explains.

"They left you." Athena said, rising her brow.

"I don't know what happened. When I woke, I was surrounded by Clickers." Casie tells her.

"Look, I'm not going to question where you have been or where you are going." Athena tells her and Casie sighs.

"Then why does it feel like you are?" Casie asks and Athena sighs.

"Sorry, look it is hard to trust people these days." Athena tells her.

"I know, trust me." Casie said.

"Then how do you trust the people you are with?" Athena asks.

"We are all the same, lost souls trying to find a home." Casie tells her and Athena sighs.

"Aren't we all?" Athena whispers.

"Then you have those who take what they want." Casie adds and Athena chuckles.

"There's a lot of those." Athena said as they start walking.

"Of course, ran into some a couple of days ago." Casie tells her.

"Casie!" a familiar voice shouts, causing Casie to stop. Casie looks over a girl runs over and Casie looks at her confused.

"Do I know you?" Casie asks.

"You really don't remember me. I may have been 5 years, but I haven't change that much." the girl said and Casie smiles as she remembers.

"Sally." Casie said and Sally nods.*****

"It's so good to see you." Sally said, giving Casie a hug.

"You too Sally." Casie said. "Where's you mum?"

"Working." Sally replies and Athena chuckles.

"That's why I think I know you, I met you when you dropped them off. You left." Athena said and Casie sighs. "But why?" Athena asks.

"I had my reasons." Casie tells her.

"Of course." Athena said.

"Come on." Sally said, grabbing Casie's hand and drags her off.

"Thanks kid." Casie said.

"Does she know?" Sally asks.

"I hope not." Casie replies.

"We missed you." Sally said and Casie sighs.

"I couldn't stay Sally, you knew that." Casie tells her and Sally nods.

"Mum missed you the most." Sally then said.

"Sally!" Casie heard Louise shout. Casie turns around and smiles, pulling down her hood. Louise looks at Casie shock as she walks over. "Casie." Louise whispers and Casie nods

"Hello Louise." Casie said and Louise pulls Casie into a hug. Casie smiles as she wraps her arms around Louise. Louise kept Casie close for the whole time she was with them. She became like a mum to Casie and was heartbroken when Casie told her she wasn't staying with them once at the Fireflies. Casie sighs as she lets Louise go as Louise lets her go.

"Let me get a good look at you." Louise said and chuckles. "Still got the skivvy." Louise then said and Casie chuckles.

"Yeah, I do." Casie said.

"It's so good to see you after all these years." Louise said. "I have been so worried."

"I'm fine, gotten very lucky." Casie tells her.

"Come on." Louise said and Casie follows her. They came to a house and walk inside. Casie sighs as she looks around, taking her bag off. "Pass that here." Louise said and Casie sighs.

"I would like to keep this close, if that's ok with you." Casie said and Louise smiles.

"Of course it is dear." Louise tells her and they walk into the kitchen area. Casie looks around and sighs. "We are alone." Louise tells her and Casie nods as she sits her bag down, then sits at the table with Louise and Sally. "If I may ask, how many bite marks do you have?" Louise asks.

"6, I have the two you already know about, I got one on my left hand, between thumb and index finger when I was 15, one on my right arm when I was 16, one on my left ankle when I was 18 and one on my right wrist which happen about, I don't know, 11 days ago." Casie explains.

"Wow." Louise said.

"Yeah and I haven't turn." Casie whispers.

"Which is good." Louise said.

"I don't know." Casie admits and Louise sighs. "Look, I need a place for the night." Casie tells her.

"Then what?" Louise asks.

"I leave, I have to find my friends." Casie tells her and Louise nods.

"Of course." Louise said and Casie smiles.

"Thank you Louise, I knew I could count on you helping me." Casie said.

"After all I have done for you child, I would be upset if you didn't count on me." Louise tells her and Casie chuckles.

"Yeah." Casie said and Louise smiles.

"Have you had anything to eat?" Louise asks.

"Not since this morning." Casie replies.

"Well I better start dinner then." Louise said standing up and walks off. Casie smiles as she leans back and looks at Sally. Sally smiles.

"Do you want to come and draw with me?" Sally asks.

"Sure." Casie said and Sally smiles as she runs off. Casie gets up and follows her upstairs and into a room. Casie saw a range of colour pencils and crayons lying on some paper. Casie sits her bag down and sits down across from her. Sally then hands a picture over. Casie looks at it, there was 3 stick figures, one was on the ground with red around it with another one standing over it while there was a smaller one standing in front of them. There was a green line which she assumes was grass. "What is this?" Casie asks.

"You saving me, the on lying down is the Stalker and that's you standing over it and me standing in front of you." Sally explains and Casie smiles. "Keep it." Sally said and Casie pulls her bag over. She then folds the picture and puts it in a zipped lock bag, then puts it back in.

"There, so it won't get wet." Casie said and Sally smiles. After a while, they had dinner and Louise gave Casie a room. Casie sits her bag down and takes her gear off. Louise walks over as Casie takes her scarf off. Casie turns around and Louise runs her fingers over the mark.

"It looks worse than it did 5 years ago." Louise said and Casie sighs.

"It has." Casie whispers.

"You get some rest." Louise tells her and Casie nods. "And tomorrow we are moving to a new town, while there, you can split off and find your friends." Louise tells her.

"Ok, thank you." Casie said and Louise sighs.

"I wish you didn't have to leave." Louise admits.

"Come with me." Casie said and Louise sighs. "Louise, me and my group are heading to Jackson County in Wyoming. We heard there was someplace safe and not in military control. A sanctuary. A place where we will be safe. Sure I will live in fear, but safe from bandits, infected, the military, the war between Fireflies and the military." Casie explains and Louise looks at her shock. "Please, come with me. You and Sally will be safe." Casie tells her.

"We can't stay with the Fireflies, we are running out of the time till we are killed." Louise whispers and Casie takes her hand.

"Come with me, you will be protected." Casie tells her. Casie then saw Sally who runs over.

"Please mum." Sally begs and Louise gives in.

"Ok, we'll come." Louise said and Casie smiles.

"Then when we get to this town, we leave." Casie tells her and Louise nods. "Go and rest, we need it." Casie then said and Louise nods as she grabs Sally and walks out. Casie smiles, she doesn't trust the Fireflies to look after them. Casie lies down in bed with a gun under her pillow. Rather be safe than sorry.


	18. Runaway

Casie wakes up with sunlight in her eyes and smiles as she sits up. She quickly gets up and grabs her gear. She need to make sure Louise and Sally comes with her. She heads out to see Louise helping Sally with her bag. Louise runs over and grabs Casie.

"The others are heading south." Louise tells her.

"We are heading west." Casie tells her. "And we leave now."

"We are almost ready." Louise said walking off and Sally runs over to Casie.

"I'm ready." Sally said and Casie smiles.

"No Sally, it is going to be a long walk. Are you up for it?" Casie asks.

"I am." Sally replies.

"Good." Casie said as Louise walks back. Casie grabs them and they head off. They headed west, sneaking around the town.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Louise asks.

"Of course not." Casie replies and Louise looks back. They then ran into Athena who chuckles.

"Athena." Louise whispers as she pulls Sally behind her and Casie stood in front of them.

"Trying to leave are we." Athena said.

"I'm pretty sure they can leave without saying anything." Casie tells her. "Athena, you seem like a great person so can you please turn your back." Casie pleads and Athena sighs.

"It isn't safe out there." Athena said.

"Athena, please." Louise whispers and Athena sighs as she steps aside.

"Don't come crawling back when you are in trouble." Athena tells them. Casie grabs Louise's hand and starts running, dragging Louise who was dragging Sally. The trio ran for hours.

"Mum, my legs are sore." Sally whines. Casie stops, causing Louise and Sally to stop.

"Sorry, I want to make sure they don't follow us." Casie said.

"It's ok." Louise said.

"We'll take it slow from here." Casie tells them as they start walking. Louise picks Sally up and Casie takes a deep breath as she kept her guard up. Who knows who or what could be around? Casie looks at Louise and Sally and smiles as she remembers the first week with them

_A 14 year old Casie is sitting away from the group. They took shelter in a offices building for the night. Casie was sitting by a window by herself. She didn't feel safe with them. She was staring at her bite mark on her left arm and sighs._

'_My second mark and I still haven't change into one of those thing.' Casie thought as she leans back. She then looks next to her as Sally walks over and sits with her._

"_Hi." Sally said and Casie sighs as she looks away. "Why are you sad?" Sally asks ad Casie looks at Sally._

"_I left someone I love behind, where I'm from." Casie replies._

"_Who?" Sally asks and Casie sighs._

"_My big brother." Casie replies and Sally sighs._

"_I'm sorry." Sally said and Casie smiles._

"_Don't be." Casie tells her as Louise walks over._

"_Go on Sally." Louise tells her. _

"_Ok." Sally said standing up and walks off._

"_How are you feeling Casie?" Louise asks as she sits down and Casie sighs._

"_I'm fine." Casie replies as she cross her arms and looks out the window._

"_You haven't touched you dinner." Louise said, picking up the bowl and Casie sighs._

"_I told you I wasn't hungry." Casie tells her and Louise sighs._

"_You need to eat." Louise tells her._

"_I'm fine." Casie said._

"_Casie." Louise said and Casie looks at Louise with anger and tear in her eyes._

"_You are not my mother, you can't tell me what to do." Casie tells Louise who sighs as she sits the bowl down and pulls Casie into a hug. Casie breaks down in tears._

"_Oh baby, I know." Louise whispers._

"_Why did this have to happen to me?" Casie asks and Louise sighs._

"_I don't know, but I am going to look after you. I promise." Louise tells her and Casie nods. Casie looks up at Louise who smiles at her. Casie moves back and wipes her eyes._

"_I'm sorry." Casie whispers._

"_Don't be." Louise said as she grabs the bowl and hands it over. "I know you are hungry because you haven't eaten much over the week." Louise tells her and Casie starts eating. Louise wraps her arm over Louise as Sally runs over and sits on Louise's lap. Casie leans into Louise and Sally giggles._

Casie sighs as she looks around.

"Are you ok?" Louise asks.

"I'm fine." Casie replies. "Lost in my thoughts." Casie adds and Louise smiles.

"Any idea where we are going?" Louise asks.

"West, that's the way my group should be heading." Casie tells her.

"So you hope." Louise whispers.

"Remember how I told you about my brother." Casie asks.

"Yeah, Alex right." Louise replies.

"I found him again, I had him back and I lost him." Casie explains. "I want to find him and the others. They mean so much to mean like you two mean to me. That's why I wanted to bring you." Casie then explains and Louise smiles. "We better keep moving, it's getting dark." Casie then said looking around.

"It is." Louise said and Casie sighs.

"I don't like the dark." Sally said.

"It's ok Sally, I'm here." Casie tells her and Sally smiles. "We are going to be fine." Casie tells them and Sally nods.

"Ok." Sally said. They made it to the next town, stopping at the first motel. Casie picked a room and scan it, empty. She got rid of the body that was there and walks back in with Louise and Sally. Casie walks to the bathroom, grabbing her hunting knife and opens the door, quickly scanning it to see it was empty too. Casie closes the door and sighs.

"We should be safe here." Casie said as she walks to the door and locks it, then close the curtains.

"We better get something to eat." Louise said and Casie nods. They set up for dinner and Casie takes her gear off, getting ready for the night. Casie leans back and smiles. It felt good to have someone around, someone she trusts. Sally walks over and sits next to Casie. Casie looks at her and smiles.

"Hey trouble." Casie said.

"Where are we going?" Sally asks.

"After we find my group, we are going to Jackson County in Wyoming." Casie replies.

"Why?" Sally asks.

"We heard there was someplace safe and not in military control. A sanctuary. A place where we will be safe." Casie tells her.

"And you?" Sally asks.

"I still will live in fear, but still safe." Casie tells her and Sally smiles.

"Ok." Sally said and Casie smiles as she looks at Louise.


	19. Reunion

Casie wakes up, panting as she tries to catch her breath. She looks Louise and Sally who both were asleep. Casie sighs as she gets up and walks to the window. She pulls the curtains and saw it was starting to get light.

'Why are my nightmares getting worse?' Casie thought. She takes a deep breath and looks back to see Louise and Sally still asleep. Casie sighs as she walks into the bathroom and stares into the mirror. There had to be a reason she is immune. Maybe she should find someone that is working on a cure. Casie sighs as she saw Louise walks in the door way through the mirror.

"Morning." Louise whispers as Casie turns around.

"We have to go soon." Casie tells her.

"Got it." Louise said walking off and Casie sighs. She then walks out as Louise wakes Sally who yawns.

"Mum." Sally whines and Casie smiles.

"Come on." Louise said and Sally nods as she gets up.

"We better have breakfast." Casie tells them.

"Good idea." Louise said and they sat down. After breakfast, Casie grabs her gear and sighs as looks Louise and Sally who both were ready.

"We better go." Casie said.

"Right." Louise said and they head off. Casie took point, making sure they were safe. She needed to protect them. As they left town, they kept heading west. Louise picks up Sally and walks next to Casie. "Are you two ok?" Casie asks.

"We are fine." Louise replies.

"Once we find the others, we will be safe." Casie tells her.

"I hope so." Louise said.

"Thank you." Casie said and Louise looks at her confused.

"For what?" Louise asks.

"Trusting me." Casie replies and Louise smiles.

"You were right though." Louise said.

"Have the Fireflies ever said they were working on a cure?" Casie asks curious.

"There was word they were going to try and they had someone that was the key, but we haven't heard from them in a while." Louise explains and Casie sighs. "Why do you ask?" Louise asks.

"Just wondering." Casie replies. "Don't tell anyone I asked that too." Casie adds.

"I won't say anything, I promise." Louise said.

"Me too." Sally said and Casie smiles. They made it to the next town and Casie looks around.

"I don't like it here, we should stay for long." Casie tells them.

"Good idea." Louise said and Casie nods. After a while, Casie grabs Louise as she heard voices. She pulls Louise back who sits Sally down.

"I know you are there!" Casie heard Mason shout. Casie walks forwards and saw him with Teagan and Tyler.

"Casie!" Teagan shouts running over and gives Casie a hug.

"Teagan." Casie whispers.

"I knew it, I knew you would be here." Teagan cries and Casie chuckles. Teagan then lets her go and Casie smiles as Tyler and Mason walks over. Mason walks up to Casie, pulling her into a hug.

"Oh we have been worried." Mason said.

"I'm fine, I met up with some old friends." Casie tells him. Mason lets her go and Casie looks at Louise and Sally who walks over. "Guys, this is Louise and Sally. They were part of the first group I was with and Louise looked around me." Casie introduces.

"Lovely to meet you." Teagan said.

"Where are the others?" Casie asks looking around.

"Alexa walked off while Alex, Emily, Madison and Jensen looks around. We have been looking for you. We made it down to the basement and you were gone." Mason explains and Casie looks at him shock. They were there the whole time.

"I…I thought you left." Casie whispers as she walks back.

"What? Never." Mason tells her and Casie sighs.

"I…I'm sorry." Casie said and Mason sighs.

"What happened to the walkie-talkie?" Mason asks.

"Smashed, I guess it happened when I fell." Casie replies.

"It's ok, you here now and safe." Mason said.

"We better find the others." Casie said and Mason nods as they head off. They then found Alex, Emily, Madison and Jensen. Alex saw Casie and smiles as Casie runs over and gives Alex a hug.

"Are you ok?" Alex asks worry.

"I'm fine." Casie replies.

"Where have you been?" Alex asks.

"It's a long story." Casie replies. "I'm sorry, I should have stayed in the basement." Casie then said.

"It's ok." Alex assures her, then kiss the top of Casie's head. Casie then lets him go as Tyler, Teagan, Mason, Louise and Sally walks over.

"This is Louise and Sally. I met them when I was 14, they helped me and was the first group I joined after I was bitten." Casie introduces.

"You must be Alex, it's lovely to meet you." Louise said, putting her hand out and Alex shakes it.

"Yeah, it's lovely to meet you too." Alex said.

"Where's Alexa?" Casie asks.

"We are trying to find her now." Madison replies.

"She took it hard when we lost you." Teagan adds and Casie sighs.

"We'll find her." Alex tells Casie who nods. They start walking, Casie walks at back with Louise, Sally and Teagan who has a tight grip on Casie's hand.

"Teagan, I'm not going anywhere." Casie tells her.

"I know." Teagan said and Casie smiles. After a while, they found Alexa running around a corner with infected behind her. Casie grabs her bow and runs forwards. She then starts taking the infected down as Alexa runs pass.

"Moves!" Casie shouts and they start running. They came to a hotel and ran inside, barricading the entry and head upstairs. Once safe, everyone stops to catch their breath. Casie walks up to Alexa and grabs her hands. "Are you ok? Are you hurt?" Casie asks worry and Alexa smiles.

"I'm fine, just." Alexa replies, then gives Casie a hug.

"Thank goodness." Casie whispers.

"We better move." Alex said as Alexa lets Casie go.

"He's right." Mason said and Casie nods.

"Let's go." Madison said and they head off. They made it out and heads off. Casie dropped behind with Alexa and Teagan while Mason and Tyler took point. Casie saw Alex and Louise talking and was a little curious what they were saying.

"What happened?" Alexa asks. "At the hotel."

"I thought you guys left, I didn't know how long I was out for." Casie explains.

"You know I wouldn't leave you." Alexa said.

"I know." Casie whispers. "I feel so silly." Casie adds.

"I'm just glad you are ok." Alexa tells her.

"I have been through worse." Casie said and Alexa sighs. "Let's keep moving though." Casie tells her.

"Right." Alexa said. They didn't rest in the next town, they still had plenty of daylight and time to the next one, so they hopped. It didn't take them that long to reach the town and found a place for the night. Casie was standing alone when Mason walks over.

"How are you feeling?" Mason asks.

"I'm fine." Casie replies.

"I worry." Mason said.

"I know." Casie said, walking closer and kiss Mason. Mason rest his forehead on Casie who smiles.

"It's good to have you back." Mason whispers.

"It's good to be back." Casie whispers.

"Dinner!" Alexa shouts. They walk back and Casie sits with Louise, Sally and Teagan. After dinner, everyone got ready for bed. Casie was lying with Teagan and Alexa.

"Casie." Teagan whispers and Casie looks at her.

"Yeah." Casie said.

"Are we ever going to make it to Jackson County in Wyoming?" Teagan asks.

"Truth be told Teagan, I'm not sure myself." Casie replies. "But I have faith." Casie adds.

"She's right, we will get there. I know we will." Alexa tells her and Casie smiles.

"It will take us a while, we are traveling on foot." Casie adds.

"Right, we'll be fine." Teagan said.

"Now get to sleep." Casie tells her and Teagan nods as she closes her eyes. Casie rolls over so she was facing Alexa who sighs. "How are you feeling?" Casie asks softly.

"Sore." Alexa whispers. "You're right, we should get some sleep." Alexa then said and Casie nods as she rolls over so she was facing Teagan and closes her eyes.


	20. The Military

Casie wakes up to someone calling her names. Casie moans as she slowly opens her eyes and saw Alexa standing over her. Casie smiles as Alexa puts his hand out.

"Morning Casie." Alexa said as Casie grabs her hand and Alexa pulls her up.

"Morning." Casie whispers.

"Come on, breakfast is ready." Alexa tells her and the pair walks off to the others. Casie sat down with Louise, Sally and Teagan.

"How are you feeling?" Louise asks.

"I'm fine." Casie replies and Louise smiles. After breakfast, Casie grabs her gear and sighs as she rubs her neck.

"Sore neck." Alex said walking over and Casie looks at him.

"A little, guess it's from how I slept last night." Casie replies and Alex pulls Casie into a hug. "I'm sorry Alex." Casie whispers.

"You scared me when you disappeared, it reminded me when you left all those years ago. I was not ready to lose you again. I just got you back." Alex tells her.

"I'm not going anywhere." Casie tells him and Alex smiles.

"Come on." Alex said, letting Casie go.

"Right, we have a lot of ground to cover today." Casie said.

"Come on." Alex said and they head off. They hit the road and Casie dropped behind like always with Alexa and Madison.

"So how are you Madison?" Casie asks.

"I'm fine, worried about you." Madison replies.

"Don't, you have enough to worry about with Emily." Casie tells her. "Talking about Emily, how is she?" Casie then asks.

"Tired, these days are hard on her." Madison replies and Casie sighs.

"They are hard on Teagan too and I'm sure Tyler." Casie tells her.

"Those kids don't need this and now these is this Sally girl." Madison said.

"She's a good kid." Casie whispers.

"Is she the Sally you saved when you were 14?" Alexa asks.

"Yes." Casie replies. "Didn't I already say that?" Casie then asks.

"I don't know, too much went wrong yesterday." Alexa replies.

"Good point." Casie whispers. "Everything just went south, but I am glad I found them. I don't trust the Fireflies." Casie explains.

"I don't." Alexa said.

"Nor do I, they lied to us." Madison adds and Casie sighs.

"Once we get to Jackson County in Wyoming, you will be safe." Casie tells them.

"And you?" Madison asks.

"I will never be safe Madison, I'm infected." Casie tells her. After a while of walking they came to a city. Casie runs up to Alex who looks around.

"I got a bad feeling." Alex said.

"Me too." Casie whispers and they kept going. They then ran into three soldiers who points their guns at them. Alex pulls Casie behind him.

"Put your weapons down." Alex tells them and they look at each other.

"Sergeant Walker?" one asks and Alex nods. They put their guns down.

"Privates." Alex said. "What are you names?"

"I'm Ajay, this is Lucas and Cooper." Ajay introduces, pointing at his friends.

"Where's your group?" Cooper asks.

"Dead, bandits." Alex replies. They then heard infected and Lucas freaks out, pointing his gun up. Casie walks over and push his gun down.

"You shoot, we are all dead. Clam down." Casie tells him and Lucas nods.

"We better move." Mason tells them.

"And them?" Jensen asks.

"They come with us." Casie tells him.

"I'm sorry, they are dangerous." Madison said.

"We will deal with them later, we have to move." Alex tells them and Madison sighs, but then nods.

"This way." Casie said and they head off. After a while, they took shelter in an old workshop. Alex walks off with Cooper, Lucas and Ajay and Casie sighs.

"Follow them." Mason tells her and Casie nods as she follows them.

"Ok, what is going on?" Alex asks as Casie walks besides him.

"We can't get in contact with our camp." Lucas replies.

"Bad, any idea on what happened?" Casie asks.

"None ma'am." Lucas replies.

"Casie, we can't leave them." Alex said as he turns to face them.

"Where is your camp?" Casie asks.

"Next town, west from here." Ajay replies.

"We take them to their camp, see what happened." Casie tells Alex who smiles.

"Thanks sis." Alex said.

"I'll break the news, we better move." Casie tells them and walks back.

"And?" Mason asks.

"They lost contact with their camp, I think they are dead. We're heading there to see what is going on. You don't have to come to the camp, but if I am right, more supplies and maybe a vehicle." Casie explains.

"Well the only one who was to truly worry is you." Tyler said.

"I don't like this." Teagan said.

"I know." Casie said.

"Let's just leave them." Jensen said and Casie sighs.

"I'm not leaving these kids here alone. They will die. If you don't want to come to the camp, fine, but we are heading west anyway, so let's just take them to their camp." Casie explains and Madison sighs.

"She's right." Louise said, walking over with Sally.

"Wait with Alex." Casie tells her and Louise walks off with Sally. Teagan then chase after her.

"We can't trust them." Mason said.

"Then trust me." Casie whispers and Jensen looks at Madison who picks up Emily, then walks off. Jensen sighs as he follows and Tyler follows him.

"Come on." Mason said and they followed the others.

"Ready?" Alex asks.

"We are." Casie replies.

"Let's head off." Alex then said and they head off. Casie and Alex walked ahead and make sure the way was clear. "How are the others?" Alex asks and Casie sighs.

"They are fine, just, we don't trust the military." Casie explains.

"I understand." Alex said and Casie sighs.

"I wish it could be different, but with me the way I am, I can't, well you know." Casie tries to explain and Alex takes her hand.

"I understand sis, I do." Alex said and Casie smiles. They walked for hours, heading into the night. Casie got worried. How far was this city? Teagan runs up and grabs Casie's hand.

"It's ok." Casie whispers and Teagan nods. They made it to the next town and headed to the camp.

"The radio is still silent." Lucas said. They came to the camp to see everyone was dead and they heard infected.

"Stay here." Casie tells them and heads into the camp.

"Casie." Alex said as he follows her.

"Immune, remember." Casie whispers.

"I know, but you can't come in here alone." Alex tells her. They came to a body and Casie sighs.

"Infected." Casie whispers, pulling out her hunting knife and Alex looks around.

"We need a place to stay for the night." Alex said as they head back to the others.

"We better move." Mason said and Alex nods. They head off, but stayed close. They took shelter in an old café, taking care of the infected. Alex, Cooper, Ajay, Lucas and Mason boarded it up while the others set things up for the night. It was a small area, but they will make it work. Casie sighs, she had to keep her scarf and gloves on tonight while Cooper, Ajay and Lucas are here. She takes her bag off and sits her weapons down. Alex then walks over and Casie smiles.

"Hi." Casie whispers.

"Are you ok?" Alex asks.

"Yeah, can't take my scarf and gloves off." Casie replies and Alex sighs.

"Right, sorry." Alex said and Casie smiles.

"Don't be, I'll be fine." Casie tells him.

"That's good." Alex said, then walks off. Casie sighs. As the night went on, they had dinner and got settle. Casie was lying with Alexa and Teagan. Teagan was lying in front of Casie. Casie then saw she was shaking.

"Teagan, are you ok?" Casie asks softly.

"So cold." Teagan replies softly and Casie sighs.

"Come closer." Casie whispers and Teagan moves closer to Casie who wraps her arm around the cold adolescent. Teagan snuggles into Casie who was warm. "Better." Casie whispers.

"Yeah." Teagan whispers back and Casie smiles.

"Now sleep." Casie tells her softly and Teagan nods as she closes her eyes. Casie sighs as she closes her eyes and tries to get some sleep.


	21. Sanctuary

Casie wakes up voices and sighs as she sits up. Alexa walks over and sits down next to her, handing Casie her breakfast.

"Morning." Casie whispers.

"Morning." Alexa said and Casie yawns. "How are you feeling?" Alexa asks.

"I'm fine." Casie replies.

"That's good." Alexa said. "We're getting ready to go soon. Alex said there could be a working vehicle." Alexa tells her.

"That would be nice." Casie whispers.

"Yeah, that's why we want to head off soon." Alexa tells her.

"Of course." Casie said. Once she finished her breakfast, they got their stuff and heads off. Casie and Alex walked ahead.

"Did Alexa tell you about that plan?" Alex asks.

"A working car sounds great." Casie replies.

"Yeah, we can cover so much ground." Alex tells her.

"Yeah, we can take it easy." Casie said. They made it back to camp and started going through it, collecting supplies like food, water, medicine, first aid, guns and ammo. They then found a couple of working trucks and grabbed a bit a fuel for them. Ajay, Lucas and Cooper.

"We don't need much fuel to make it to the next camp." Lucas tells them.

"We'll be in our truck." Mason said and they climb into the back. Casie looks at Alex who pulls his dog tags off.

"If anyone ask, you found my body." Alex tells them and Cooper grabs the tags.

"Yes sir." Cooper said.

"You three take care." Alex tells them.

"Yes sir." Lucas said and they head off. Alex and Casie climbs into the front and they heads off.

"So keep going west?" Alex asks.

"Yeah." Casie replies.

"Are we sure this is a good idea?" Mason asks.

"Yeah." Casie replies. They drove out of town and Casie climbs to the back as Jensen climbs in the front.

"This is so cool." Teagan said and Casie smiles as she sits down.

"This means we can cover a lot more ground." Casie said.

"That's amazing, no more walking. We can take it easy." Madison said smiling.

"Yeah, it's great." Tyler said. Casie leans back and closes her eyes.

"Are you ok?" Teagan asks worry.

"I'm just tried." Casie replies as she opens her eyes Sally gets up and walks over to Casie who picks her up.

"I'm glad we got this truck." Mason said.

"It makes traveling so much faster." Louise adds.

"We still have to be careful, I have seen bandits attack vehicles." Casie warns them.

"She's right, I have seen it." Madison said.

"We just have to be careful." Alexa tells them and Casie nods. Casie walks over to Alex who smiles.

"We'll take the freeway and travel as far as we can in this thing." Alex tells her.

"Good idea, the more ground we cover the better." Casie said. "Can you drive it?"

"I got it." Alex assures her and Casie nods.

"Hey Alex, can we make it to Jackson County in Wyoming with this rust bucket?" Mason asks.

"Yeah, we will have the fuel." Alex replies. "But it will be a long drive." Alex adds.

"Can you do it?" Casie asks.

"We'll find out." Alex said and Casie sighs. Jenson climbs to the back and Casie climbs next to him.

"Don't overdo it." Casie tells him.

"Don't worry, I won't." Alex tells her. Casie smiles as she lies down, using Alex's lap as a pillow. "You just rest, ok." Alex tells Casie who smiles.

"Ok." Casie whispers as she closes her eyes.

_A 12 year old Casie runs out her room as Alex walks in. Casie smiles as she jumps and gives Alex a hug._

"_Hey baby girl." Alex said and Casie smiles._

"_You're home." Casie said and Alex chuckles._

"_I am." Alex said. "Let' work on dinner." Alex said and Casie nods as she lets Alex go. They walk to their small kitchen and starts cooking. Casie watch her brother, learning how to cook so she doesn't have to reply on him. The military has been making him work longer days. She's worried he would have to do night shifts and so is Alex. "What's wrong Casie?" Alex asks._

"_You have been out a lot." Casie whispers and Alex sighs._

"_I know, which is why you need to learn a few things." Alex tells her._

"_I understand." Casie whispers and Alex smiles._

"_I wish things could change." Alex tells her. They then heard a knock at the door and Casie jumps down and runs over. She opens the door to see someone. He has brown hair, blue eyes and is wearing a uniform and he smiles at her._

"_Is your bother in?" he asks and Casie nods as she walks back. He walks in and Alex looks at him shock._

"_Colonel Jackson." Alex said shock._

"_Corporal." Colonel Jackson said and Casie runs over to Alex, grabbing his shirt. Colonel Jackson closes the door. "So this must be Casie." Colonel Jackson then said._

"_Yes sir, I was just cooking her dinner." Alex replies._

"_Well you need to make it quick. We have a heard of infected close to the zone." Colonel Jackson tells Alex and Casie sighs._

"_I understand sir, I just need to finis here." Alex tells him._

"_I'll wait outside." Colonel Jackson said walking out._

"_No, you can't leave me." Casie tells him and Alex picks her up, sitting her on the bench._

"_I have to baby girl, to protect you." Alex tells her and Casie sighs._

"_What if you don't come home one day?" Casie asks._

"_I will, I promise, I will always come home." Alex tells her and Casie nods. Alex then kiss Casie on the forehead and finished cooking Casie's dinner and grabs his gear. He looks at Casie who sighs._

"_Don't wait up." Alex tells her, then walks out and Casie sighs as she closes her eyes._

Casie wakes up to see it was dark and sighs as she sits up. She looks at Alex who smiles.

"You ok?" Alex asks.

"Do you remember when I was 12 and that Colonel Jackson came to our place and took you away that night?" Casie asks.

"Yeah, you were really upset that I had to leave." Alex said and Casie sighs.

"The smallest thing use to scare me back then." Casie admits. "Losing you was one of my fears." Casie then admits and Alex sighs. Casie looks back to see the others asleep. She the saw Teagan awake. Teagan smiles as she gets up and climbs over.

"Hi." Teagan whispers.

"Hey, how are you?" Casie asks.

"I'm fine." Teagan replies as she snuggles into Casie. Casie leans back and sighs.

"We are almost there." Alex tells her.

"I hope so." Casie admits.

"I have seen the signs, we are." Alex tells her and Casie smiles.

"Safe." Teagan whispers.

"That's right Teagan, safety." Casie whispers and Alex sighs. After a while they came to Jackson, Wyoming. They saw men guarding the entries.

"Get out slowly!" one shouts.

"Wake up." Casie said as she wakes the others. They all yawn and they slowly get out, grabbing their gear. Casie was at the front, but was blinded by lights pointing at them. She then saw an older man walk forward. He has grey hair and hazel eyes Casie sighs. "Hi." Casie whispers.

"What's your name?" he asks.

"Casie." Casie replies.

"Ok Casie, I'm Joel." Joel introduces.

"Look, we heard this was sanctuary, we have kids, please." Casie pleads as Sally runs over and grabs Casie's leg. Casie looks down, the back at Joel.

"Follow me." Joel tells them.

"Tommy isn't going to like this." a man said.

"Leave my brother to me." Joel tells him and they heads in. Casie picks up Sally and Casie sighs. No turning back now. They came to the town and follow Joel. "Look, it is too late to get you all a place so you will have to stay at my place." Joel tells them.

"Thank you." Casie said.

"Come on." Joel said. They walk into Joel's place and Joel sighs. "Ellie!" Joel calls and Ellie runs down stairs.

"Uh Joel, what's going on?" Ellie asks.

"Travelers." Joel replies and Teagan walks over.

"Hi." Teagan said.

"Hi." Ellie said.

"There just staying for one night." Joel tells Ellie.

"Ok." Ellie said.

"You can have the lounge room." Joel tells them.

"Thank you sir." Casie said as they others walks in the room, but Alex.

"He's military." Ellie said.

"Was, he's my bother." Casie tells her, then grabs Alex's hand and they walk into the lounge room with the others. They got settled for the night.

"I can't believe we made it." Tyler said and Mason push him.

"Believe it bro." Mason tells him.

"Good job with the driving Alex." Jensen said. Casie smiles as she leans into Alex.

"We just have to find out what we have to do so we can stay." Casie tells them.

"That should be easy, I hope." Mason said.

"We will find out tomorrow." Casie said and everyone nods. As the night went on, they had something to eat and started falling asleep. Casie couldn't, she wasn't tired. Casie was sitting by the window, thinking about what could happen. All was bad. Casie sighs as she looks at her right wrist. She can't keep this secret for too long. She tried with Mason, Tyler and Teagan, but that failed as well as Alex. Casie sighs as she looks out the window. Then she saw Ellie walk over and Casie sighs.

"Uh hi." Ellie said.

"Hi." Casie whispers.

"Where did you come from?" Ellie asks.

"We came from Nashville, Tennessee." Casie replies. "When this started, New York." Casie adds.

"Wow, that's a long way from here." Ellie said.

"Yeah." Casie whispers as Joel walks over.

"Ellie, you should be in bed." Joel tells her.

"Sorry." Ellie said walking off and Casie sighs.

"Are you ok?" Joel asks.

"Yeah, sorry, I better get to sleep." Casie replies as she gets up and walks into the lounge room. She then lies down to Mason and sighs as she closes her eyes.

* * *

**And yes, the Joel and Ellie – they made it :)**


	22. Home

Casie wakes up panting and sighs as she looks around. She looks next to her to see Mason still asleep and smiles as she sits up. She then gets up and walks around the house, hoping Joel won't mind. She then heard footsteps so she looks back to see Ellie. Casie sighs as she walks to the window and looks out.

"Are you ok?" Ellie asks.

"I'll be fine…maybe." Casie replies.

"You know you can take that scarf off, right." Ellie said.

"No, I can't." Casie tells her and Ellie sighs as Joel walks down.

"Ellie, what are you doing?" Joel asks.

"Talk." Ellie replies as she walks to Casie. "What are you hiding?" Ellie asks.

"It doesn't matter." Casie tells her as she walks back into the wall.

"Ellie." Joel said.

"Look, even if I did show you what I'm hiding, how do I know you not going to kill me?" Casie asks.

"You're infected." Ellie said walking back and Casie sighs as she sits down. She then takes her scarf off. They look at her shock.

"Since I was 13, yeah." Casie whispers as she takes her gloves off and pulls up her sleeves, showing the others she has.

"No way." Ellie said walking over and kneels next to her.

"Wait, what?" Casie asks and Elle rolls up her left sleeve, showing her mark and Casie chuckles as she looks at her.

"We're both immune." Ellie tells her and Casie felt tears in her eyes.

"I thought I was the only one." Casie whispers.

"No way." Ellie tells her and Joel walks over.

"I have let Tommy know, but you won't kicked out. You just need to keep them cover like you have been doing and keep your head down a bot." Joel tells her.

"Yes sir." Casie said.

"I have to go, take care of the Ellie." Joel tells her.

"I will." Ellie said and Joel heads off. "So you were bitten when you were 13." Ellie said, sitting next to Casie.

"Yeah, I was exploring when I found out the building was full of infected. I went to run out, but a Stalker grabbed me and bit me. I ran off after that, leaving Alex behind. I was scared and I was 13. I didn't know what to do." Casie explains.

"And when you didn't turn?" Ellie asks.

"I taught myself to survive alone for a year. Then I met Louise and Sally, they're in the lounge room, they were with a group. I got my second bite mark saving Sally from a Stalker." Casie explains.

"Wow, how many bite marks do you have?" Ellie asks.

"All up, six." Casie replies.

"That sucks." Ellie said.

"It does." Casie whispers. "But I kept going, I had to. When I was 16, I did want to give up, but I met Alexa. She gave me hope." Casie explains.

"Sounds like you had it worse than me." Ellie admits.

"Maybe a little, it's a tough world out there." Casie said as she grabs her gear. She then saw Alex and smiles.

"At least you have a great group." Ellie said.

"Yeah, I do." Casie whispers. "I better wake them up so we can get ready to the day." Casie said standing up and Ellie stands up.

"Right, ok." Ellie said and Casie walks to Alex.

"Are you ok?" Alex asks.

"I'm fine, I told Joel and Ellie the truth. Turns out I'm not the only immune person here." Casie explains.

"Really?" Alex said shock.

"Yeah." Casie said. She walks over to Teagan who was awake and Teagan smiles. Everyone slowly woke up and started making breakfast.

"How are you?" Mason asks Casie who smiles.

"I'm fine, can't wait till we figure out will happen when it comes to us staying here." Casie admits.

"That's good." Mason said.

"I hope we stay." Tyler said.

"We all do." Alexa said.

"I have hope." Louise said.

"I'll talk to Joel, I know he will help." Casie tells them.

"I hope." Teagan said. After breakfast, they clean up and pack everything up. Then Joel walks back with someone else.

"This is them Tommy." Joel said and Casie walks in front of the others.

"We have fixed the apartment building." Tommy said. They head off and Casie takes a deep breath. They made it to the building and split up into the rooms. Casie stayed with Mason, Tyler and Teagan while Alex stayed with Louise and Sally, Jensen stayed with Madison and Emily and Alexa got her own place. Casie and Mason were in their room, unpacking and organise. Casie sighs as she sits down on the bed and Mason sits next to her.

"Are you ok?" Mason asks.

"Yeah, trying to believe this is happening." Casie admits. Mason chuckles as he stands up and pulls Casie up into a kiss. Casie smiles as she wraps her arms around Mason's neck as Mason wraps his arms around her waist. Mason breaks the kiss and rest his forehead on Casie's who smiles at him.

"We made it." Mason tells her.

"We did." Casie whispers.

"Come on." Mason said and they head out to check on Teagan and Tyler. Teagan and Tyler walk out of their room and walk over to Mason and Casie.

"This is amazing, we don't have to worry about running or early mornings or bandits or infected." Tyler said.

"In a way, we still have to worry about bandits and infected." Casie tells her. "We just have to find out what we can do." Casie adds as Alexa walks in.

"Come on." Alexa tells them and they head out. They went down stairs and outside to see Jensen, Madison, Emily, Louise, Sally and Alex waiting. Casie walks to Alex to see Tommy, Joel and Ellie.

"Look, we need a few more people at hydroelectric power plant. That thing is what keeps this town powered. We have had bandits attack us a couple of times." Tommy tells them.

"I'll help." Alex said and Tommy smiles.

"I hope you said that, with your military skills, you could be useful." Tommy said.

"I'm in." Mason said walking over.

"Sure, if it's to keep this town going." Jensen said.

"Great, follow me." Tommy tells them. Casie looks at Mason who kiss her on the cheek and walks off with Alex and Jensen. Casie sighs as Alexa walks over to her.

"They'll be fine." Alexa tells her.

"Right." Casie whispers.

"I better take the younger ones to the training school." Ellie said.

"Mum." Sally whispers. Teagan smiles as she walks over and puts her hand out.

"It's ok Sally, I won't leave your side." Teagan tells her. Sally grabs Teagan's hand. They walk over to Casie and Casie smiles as the kiss Teagan on the forehead.

"Take care." Casie tells her.

"We will." Teagan said waling to Ellie with Tyler and Emily behind her. They head off and Joel smiles.

"Now, let's see what you can do." Joel said.

"I use to be a medic for the Fireflies." Louise said walking to Casie.

"Great, follow me." Joel said and they head off. They dropped Louise at the small hospital they have and Joel looks at Casie, Madison and Alexa.

"What can we do?" Casie asks.

"I need help getting supplies around town, making sure the wall is secured and there are no infected and bandits around." Joel tells them.

"Sounds like fun." Alexa said and Casie smiles.

"We can do that." Casie and Joel smiles. They spent the rest of the day helping Joel. Alexa kept a close eye on Casie. They worked till the sun went down. Once they were done, they headed home. They were greeted by Teagan, Emily, Sally and Tyler.

"Hey." Teagan greets.

"How was your day?" Casie asks as she sits down with Alexa and Madison sat next to Emily.

"Long and hard." Tyler replies.

"You'll be fine." Casie tells them.

"We will, it was nice though. We met more people around our ages. It was great and we had a lot of fun." Teagan explains as Sally walks over and sits on Casie's lap.

"And you Sally?" Casie asks.

"It was ok." Sally replies.

"The split us up because of our age." Teagan said.

"Oh." Casie said.

"I made some friends though." Sally admits.

"That's good." Casie said as Louise walks over.

"Hey mum." Sally greets.

"Hey sweetie, how was your day?" Louise asks.

"It was ok, I made some new friends." Sally replies.

"That's good dear." Louise said.

"How are you?" Casie asks.

"A little tired." Louise replies. "A lot to take in on the first day, but the others there accepted me and they are helping me." Louise explains.

"That's great." Casie said as Mason, Jensen and Alex walks over.

"I still done get it." Mason said and Alex sighs.

"Don't worry about it then." Alex tells him.

"And how did it go?" Casie asks.

"Great, looked around the plant. I'm surprise that old thing is running." Alex replies.

"True." Jensen.

"And yours?" Mason asks.

"Alexa and I went around helping Joel. It was ok." Casie replies.

"I'm working at the small hospital they have. A couple of wounded there, but nothing too bad." Louise explains.

"That's good." Alex said.

"So this is our home now." Alexa said.

"It is." Casie whispers.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Madison asks.

"I get kicked out or killed." Casie replies.

"Try not to think about that." Louise tells her.

"I will, besides, as long as I keep my head down and my marks covered, I'm fine." Casie explains.

"True." Teagan said.

"We better head in, it's late." Alex tells them. Everyone gets up and heads in to their place. Casie and Mason cooks dinner. Teagan and Tyler watch and Casie smiles. After dinner, they got ready for bed. Casie was lying on her side of the bed, lying on her side, facing the wall when Mason moves behind her, wrapping his arm over her waist.

"Mason." Casie whines as she looks at him.

"What?" Mason asks.

"Don't what me." Casie tells him.

"Night." Mason said as he kiss Casie on the cheek. Casie smiles.

"Night." Casie whispers as she face forward. They have finally made it, they are safe. Sure they still have to worry about bandits and infected, but they don't have to live on the run. They can finally settle down and be happy and Casie can finally forget all the bad that has happened to her. She is finally happy.

* * *

**And sadly that is where this story ends…Casie finally is happy, but what will the future hold…no one know…I hate seeing this story coming to an end, but this isn't the end…anyway, this is MilesPrower2011 saying thank you and goodbye **


End file.
